Illustration by Alexandra Nelipa
U.S. Constitution Day to be observed Wednesday on campus.
By Ian Coleman
sac-ranger@alamo.edu
Constitution Day is Wednesday in Loftin Student Center with activities spilling out into the mall east of Loftin.
According to the National Constitution Center’s website, Constitution Day observes the signing of the U.S Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787.
Mary Elise Ferrer, coordinator for student success in the office of student life, said student volunteers will host a trivia session and will hand out copies of the U.S. Constitution.
“You’ll know who’s handing out U.S Constitutions,” Ferrer said, noting that the volunteers will be hard to miss. She said the way students will recognize the volunteers will be a “surprise.”
Constitution Day was created by a clause, added to a 2004 federal spending bill sponsored by Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, mandating publicly funded institutions to educate on the U.S. Consititution.
Ferrer said everyone should know their rights as listed in the Constitution.
“That way people know the rules that the government must abide by and how the different branches of the federal government work,” she explained.
Ferrer taught U.S. history at this college from fall 2011 until spring 2014.
“The Constitution is a living document that the founding fathers created to be applied to daily life,” Asslan Khaligh, political science professor, said.
Khaligh said the U.S. Constitution created the legislative, judiciary and executive branches of the federal government.
“The legislative branch creates laws under the umbrella of the Constitution,” Khaligh said.
The executive branch enforces those laws, and the judiciary branch settles any disputes of government or people, Khaligh said.
