University Park, Pa. -- Acting on a federal call to focus attention on the Constitution each Sept. 17, Penn State University Park will see the return of "writer's blocks" to campus on that day. The blocks, publicly placed artwork that doubles as a venue for members of the University community to express in writing their opinions on certain topics, this year also will be installed on the Brandywine and Mont Alto campuses.
At University Park, the Office of Undergraduate Education's Laboratory for Public Scholarship and Democracy partnered with the University Park Student Association (UPUA) to sponsor the blocks, which originally were designed in 2007 by students in the first-year art and design studio run by Peter Aeschbacher, assistant professor of architecture.
Two issues, one visited by the U.S. Supreme Court during its 2009-2010 term, the other hotly debated in the court of public opinion and media commentary, will set an agenda for the Penn State community's 2010 Constitution Day consideration of the publics' democracy.
"Our students demonstrate a mature commitment to democratic ideals each year as they address writer's block questions and then continue their deliberations with others, and at the polls in November," said Jeremy Cohen, senior associate dean and associate vice president for undergraduate education, and coordinator of Penn State's annual Constitutional celebration.
This year's writer's block questions are drawn from contemporary First- and Second-Amendment controversies:
-- Is intolerance of the "9/11 mosque" fundamentally un-American?
-- Can the right to carry a gun be balanced with public safety?
"These are issues with the potential to draw students into a consideration of their personal values and of history's impact on current events," Cohen said.
The 2010 University Park installations will be set up on Fisher Plaza adjacent to Kern Building and will include the opportunity to translate community ideals into democratic action by registering students to vote in the November elections.