2008 Woodie Awards
College signs on for first Constitution Day
Christina Voss
Issue date: 9/29/05 Section: News
Sept. 17, 1787, marks the day the U.S. Constitution was signed. In 2004, Sen. Robert Byrd, D- W. Va., added an amendment to a bill revising the U.S. Department of Education that required all colleges and universities that receive federal funds to provide an educational event featuring the U.S. Constitution.
This year, Kirkwood chose to celebrate the anniversary by conducting a Constitution Day on Friday, Sept. 16, at the main campus in the morning and the Iowa City campus in the afternoon.
David McMahon, associate professor of history at the Kirkwood campus in Iowa City, was the program director this year.
The day was filled with discussions and presentations by Kirkwood professors, authors and invited scholars including Jon Lauck, senior adviser to South Dakota Sen. John Thune; Jason K. Duncan, professor at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Mich.; Mark Milosch, special adviser to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and Sunil Ahuja, associate professor of political science at Youngstown State University.
Though the Constitution Day was a mandatory event, McMahon stated in an earlier interview that he "does not view the mandate as a burden."
Students, staff and members of the public were invited to join in the celebration. There was a great turnout that included many non-students along with students who drifted in and out between classes.
Kirkwood professor George Patterson presented, "Gestapo Tactics in the Streets of Chicago: The Democratic Convention of 1968." Patterson began the discussion with a news video on the 1968 Democratic Convention.
Afterward he opened the floor to the audience for questions, comments and memories of the event.
The presentation appealed to college students because it was not only history that could be seen but history that could be compared to present day elections.
Two members of the audience included Kirkwood student Brian Walch and his father Tim Walch, director of the Hoover Library in West Branch.
"America is like a big rousing civic argument, Tim said, "constantly changing," Tim said. "I love America because it's a country where we can speak our minds without consequence."
This year, Kirkwood chose to celebrate the anniversary by conducting a Constitution Day on Friday, Sept. 16, at the main campus in the morning and the Iowa City campus in the afternoon.
David McMahon, associate professor of history at the Kirkwood campus in Iowa City, was the program director this year.
The day was filled with discussions and presentations by Kirkwood professors, authors and invited scholars including Jon Lauck, senior adviser to South Dakota Sen. John Thune; Jason K. Duncan, professor at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Mich.; Mark Milosch, special adviser to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and Sunil Ahuja, associate professor of political science at Youngstown State University.
Though the Constitution Day was a mandatory event, McMahon stated in an earlier interview that he "does not view the mandate as a burden."
Students, staff and members of the public were invited to join in the celebration. There was a great turnout that included many non-students along with students who drifted in and out between classes.
Kirkwood professor George Patterson presented, "Gestapo Tactics in the Streets of Chicago: The Democratic Convention of 1968." Patterson began the discussion with a news video on the 1968 Democratic Convention.
Afterward he opened the floor to the audience for questions, comments and memories of the event.
The presentation appealed to college students because it was not only history that could be seen but history that could be compared to present day elections.
Two members of the audience included Kirkwood student Brian Walch and his father Tim Walch, director of the Hoover Library in West Branch.
"America is like a big rousing civic argument, Tim said, "constantly changing," Tim said. "I love America because it's a country where we can speak our minds without consequence."