Campus Life

'Celebrating a Dead Letter or a Living Document': 2016 Constitution Day Address

In conjunction with the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues at Dickinson College, Penn State's Dickinson Law is co-sponsoring the Winfield C. Cook Constitution Day Address “Celebrating a Dead Letter or a Living Document?” presented by the Rev. Barry W. Lynn at 7 p.m. Sept. 6, in the Anita Tuvin Schlecter Auditorium at Dickinson College. Since 1992, the Rev. Barry W. Lynn has served as executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington, D.C.-based organization dedicated to the preservation of the Constitution’s religious liberty provisions.

“Originalism” in Constitutional interpretation is often characterized as the only legitimate way to understand the Constitution. If that were true, the “Constitution” would be a dead letter by now, unable to protect the rights of Americans in rapidly changing times.

"Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty" is the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues theme this semester. This new initiative is grounded on the reality that today’s generation of Dickinson College students confronts a large number of intractable political, economic, and social problems: terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, environmental pollution, global warming, a sustainable energy policy, the ongoing financial crisis, the federal deficit, the amount of public and private debt, the health care crisis, along with issues regarding race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation, as well as technology and privacy. These issues and problems directly or indirectly pose challenges to the College and the local community that may in time require fundamental changes in institutions, values, and practices across the public, private, and non-profit sectors of American society.

This event is free and open to the public. Learn more about the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues at http://clarke.dickinson.edu.

Credit: Penn StateCreative Commons

Last Updated August 31, 2016

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