Office of Public Relations

Pomona, NJ 08240

 

Commemorating the Constitution: The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey to Celebrate the 10^th Annual Constitution Day

Event Runs from Monday, September 18, 2006 through Thursday, November 16, 2006 on the Galloway Twp. Campus

 

For Immediate Release

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Contact: Tim Kelly

Stockton Public Relations

(609) 652-4950

 

GALLOWAY TWP., NJ The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey will celebrate Constitution Day on September 18, 2006.

 

The United States Constitution was completed and signed by the Philadelphia Convention on September 17, 1787. Although the Constitution was signed more than 200 years ago, Constitution Day officially began in 1997 with the simultaneous recitation of the Preamble Across America. Two years ago, on December 8, 2004 President George W. Bush officially established September 17^th as United States Constitution Day when he signed House Resolution 1848.

 

The events centered around Constitution Day are as follows:

• Monday, September 18, 4:00 to 5:30 P.M., Alton Auditorium, Eminent Domain, Ronald Chen, J.D., New Jersey's Public Advocate, will talk about the issue of eminent domain in New Jersey. He will discuss both the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Kelo v. City of New London in which the Court affirmed the constitutionality of using eminent domain for redevelopment and state law strategies for reforming the use of eminent domain in New Jersey.
• Wednesday, September 20, 11:20 to 12:35 P.M., Alton Auditorium, Inside the U.S. Supreme Court, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Supreme Court Correspondent for the NY Times, Linda Greenhouse, will talk with students and faculty about the inner workings of the U.S. Supreme Court, its changing composition and current cases from the perspective of one of the nations finest Supreme Court reporters. Her book on Justice Harry Blackmun, Becoming Justice Blackmun: Harry Blackmuns Supreme Court Journey, was published last year.
• Wednesday, September 27, 7:00 P.M., Lakeside Townhall, The Bush Administration and Iraq, William T. Daly, Stocktons Distinguished Professor of Political Science, will discuss the Bush administration's policy in Iraq, including the original justifications for military intervention in Iraq and the administration's reasons for staying.
• Thursday, October 5, 10:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M., Townsend Residential Life Center Multipurpose Room, Guantanamo: How Should We Respond?, Nationwide teach-in on the detentions at Guantanamo that includes presentations by journalists, military personnel, lawyers, psychologists, physicians and other experts simulcast from Seton Hall University Law School. Live dialogue among Stockton participants will follow. For more information, go to http://law.shu.edu/guantanamoteachin/page3.htm
• Thursday, October 5, 2:30 to 4:30 P.M., Performing Arts Center, The Legacies of Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King and C. Delores Tucker, This annual event, in commemoration of the life of Fannie Lou Hamer, will include presentations by Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells, Esq. and Civil Rights Activist Edith Savage Jennings and showing the documentary film, Mighty Times, which focuses on the life of Rosa Parks. Complimentary tickets are available from the Performing Arts Center. Call (609) 652-9000 for more information.
• Thursday, October 12, 4:30 to 6:00 P.M., Alton Auditorium, Civil Rights and Sexual Orientation, Kevin Cathcart, Executive Director of Lambda Legal, and James Dale will talk about state and federal constitutional protection for discrimination based on sexual orientation. Kevin Cathcart is a Stockton graduate and Lambda Legal has brought most of the litigation seeking legal protection for same-sex marriage. James Dale was the plaintiff in Dale v. Boy Scouts of America, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment's protection for freedom of association allows the Boy Scouts to exclude gay men from serving as scout leaders.
• Saturday, November 4, 8:00 to 12:00 P.M., Trip to National Constitution Center, Dash for Democracy 5K Run/Walk The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia will host Democracy Your Way a free expo featuring dozens of non-profit organizations, community groups and political organizations offering information about how you can get involved. The optional 5K Dash will begin at 9:00am, including a student discount on registration. More details are available online at http://www.dashfordemocracy.org/Hatpage.aspx?PID=24 .
• Tuesday, November 7, Be sure to cast your vote in this important election: Senator Robert Menendez (D) v. Thomas Kean Jr. (R). Exercise your right to vote.
• Thursday, November 16, 8:30 P.M., N-Wing, An Inconvenient Truth, Meant as a companion documentary to the book of the same name, An Inconvenient Truth chronicles the career of former-Vice President Al Gore as he focuses on potentially one of the biggest issues facing future generations, global warming. Gore lays out the case for the causes of warming, and traces his concerns with this phenomenon, from his early days in politics through the aftermath of the 2000 Presidential election.

Constitution Day events are sponsored by the Office of the Provost and the Division of Student Affairs. All of these events are free and open to the public.

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