By Charles Swanigon/reporter
TCC will have a series of events to commemorate Constitution Day, a Sept. 17 event that honors the nation’s governing document.
All TCC campuses will recognize the day in their own way.
NE Campus will honor associate professor and department chair Bill Ward, who died Sept. 8, in addition to welcoming Judges Sue Walker and Bob McCoy of the 2nd Texas Court of Appeals to help commemorate Constitution Day.
SE Campus will play Constitution Jeopardy and hand out booklets.
South Campus will have associate professor Myrtle Freeman and other faculty members share ideas about the Constitution from different perspectives. Students will also read historical documents, and the faculty will field questions about the Constitution and free speech.
Judge Ruben Gonzalez Jr. will speak on NW Campus addressing the criminal law aspect of the Constitution and sharing “What the Constitution Means to You?”
Yvonne McCoy, NE Campus psychology instructor, said she wished more students and even faculty were aware of Constitution Day.
“It seeks to promote our right as well as our duty as citizens to understand the constitution and know how our government works,” McCoy said.
All schools that receive money from any federal agency must teach or have programs about the Constitution and also recognize Sept. 17 as the day the Constitution was ratified. Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia added the Constitution Day clause to the 2005 federal spending bill, which President George W. Bush signed into law.
Larry Davis, NE Campus associate professor of government and economics, said he thinks passing bills like that has become common place.
“It’s like brushing teeth,” he said.
The Constitution is on display at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. It is the oldest national constitution in the world still in use.
Constitution Day is meant to build awareness to the document that is the core for the organization of the U.S. government. The Constitution creates branches of government and details their responsibilities and powers.
Tramaine Anderson, professor of history on NE Campus, does not believe students understand the Constitution because “there are so many pieces.”
Dr. Edward Teller (1908-2003) immigrant from Hungary. Teller is known as father of the hydrogen bomb and reassured other scientists that nuclear explosions could be controlled and as a result would only destroy a limited area. He authored numerous books and was a research fellow at the Hoover Institute for the Study of War.
