Gustavus was one of many colleges and universities around the nation to recognize Constitution Day on Wednesday, Sep. 17.
This year, the Gustavus community observed Constitution Day with trivia, miniature copies of the Constitution, and frost-your-own cookies available in the Folke Bernadotte Library. The Dean of Students Office and the library joined efforts to sponsor the activities.
“I think it’s a day for us to celebrate the freedom that we enjoy, and perhaps pique some student curiosity in and interest about the Constitution,” Assistant Dean of Students Steve Bennett said.
According to the American Democracy Project through Sam Houston State University, changes to the 2005 Federal Spending Bill and Public Law 108-447 required that all educational institutions receiving federal spending recognize Constitution Day each Sep. 17.
According to Library Professor Michelle Twait, the library has presented a book display each year in recognition of the national event.
“I think like any library event or any program that the library does, we hope there’s always some new information, some learning that takes place, and we also hope to engage students with the materials, so with the book display we definitely hope that people will be picking up the books and looking at them and talking about what they see, testing each other on their Constitutional knowledge,” Twait said of this year’s events.
Senior Nicole Ektnitphong was among the students who utilized the resources available this year.
“I think it’s nice that the library is providing an outlet to educate the students and faculty and people that come here, and there are free constitutional books which I think is fun,” Ektnitphong said.
“It’s a day for us to celebrate the freedom that we enjoy, and perhaps pique some student curiosity in and interest about the Constitution.”—Steve Bennett
Ektinphong also said the importance of Constitution Day rests in its function as a reminder of its involvement in our daily lives and in general governmental policies.
Twait and Bennett both expressed interest in expanding the Constitution Day programming in coming years.
“In the future we’d love to partner with interested student groups, as well as faculty and staff to see what direction we might want to take with Constitution Day. For example, we could have an on campus lecture and discussion to promote more of an active exchange of ideas on the history of the Constitution, its language or meaning particularly with regard to current issues,” Bennett said.
-Libby Larson
