Students explore U.S. Constitution
Kimberly Glassco
Issue date: 9/24/08 Section: News
Students learned about the U.S. Constitution and the powers of the president at Southwest Baptist University's Constitution Day event.
Constitution Day, a federally mandated day that began in 2004, recognizes the importance of the Constitution.
The SBU observance of Constitution Day started with Professor of American Government and Politics Dr. Klostermeyer taking the floor and stating the reason for the meeting.
"September 17, 1787 our Constitution was ratified," said Klostermeyer. "Nothing was done much about remembering the historic day until Senator William Bird, to my understanding, in the United States Senate said that students should know about the Constitution."
Also accompanying Klostermeyer was a panel of faculty members such as Associate Professor of History Dr. James Smith, Assistant Professor of History Dr. Timothy Wood, and Professor of Political Science Dr. Kwasi Ofori-Yeboah.
The rows of seats in Pike Auditorium contained students who came to learn about that historical document and what it really says.
"I wanted to learn more about it," said freshman Sarah Skinner. "I wanted to hear different opinions."
"I'm fond of these particular members of faculty," said senior Jonathan Spradling. "I knew I would get more in-depth answers about the election and issues students are concerned with."
Klostermeyer's speech gave insight to the working powers in our government and explained some misconceptions people have.
After Dr. Klostermeyer's speech, the faculty opened the floor for questions.
The faculty answered all the questions with a casual conversational tone.
This seemed to encourage the students to voice their thoughts.
Klostermeyer wants students "to take these issues that were started with this discussion in this room to the residence halls, to corners of the campus, to the lunch room and discuss these issues with other students and to think critically about them."
Constitution Day, a federally mandated day that began in 2004, recognizes the importance of the Constitution.
The SBU observance of Constitution Day started with Professor of American Government and Politics Dr. Klostermeyer taking the floor and stating the reason for the meeting.
"September 17, 1787 our Constitution was ratified," said Klostermeyer. "Nothing was done much about remembering the historic day until Senator William Bird, to my understanding, in the United States Senate said that students should know about the Constitution."
Also accompanying Klostermeyer was a panel of faculty members such as Associate Professor of History Dr. James Smith, Assistant Professor of History Dr. Timothy Wood, and Professor of Political Science Dr. Kwasi Ofori-Yeboah.
The rows of seats in Pike Auditorium contained students who came to learn about that historical document and what it really says.
"I wanted to learn more about it," said freshman Sarah Skinner. "I wanted to hear different opinions."
"I'm fond of these particular members of faculty," said senior Jonathan Spradling. "I knew I would get more in-depth answers about the election and issues students are concerned with."
Klostermeyer's speech gave insight to the working powers in our government and explained some misconceptions people have.
After Dr. Klostermeyer's speech, the faculty opened the floor for questions.
The faculty answered all the questions with a casual conversational tone.
This seemed to encourage the students to voice their thoughts.
Klostermeyer wants students "to take these issues that were started with this discussion in this room to the residence halls, to corners of the campus, to the lunch room and discuss these issues with other students and to think critically about them."
Be the first to comment on this story