Huntington University to host Constitution Day panel
FOR RELEASE: Monday, September 4, 2006
Huntington, Ind.-On Sept. 17, the U.S. will celebrate the 219th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution by the delegates of the Philadelphia convention. To commemorate this day, Huntington University will present a dialogue among HU students and local and regional experts on the subject of national security and civil liberties, two ideals enshrined in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The panel discussion, titled "Security and Freedom: A Constitution Day Conversation," will be held at 11 a.m. on Sept. 15 in the Longaker Recital Hall of the Merillat Centre for the Arts.
Panelists will include Lena N. Snethen, Esq., associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana; Robert Vane, communications director of the Indiana Republican Party; and Amy Richison, chief deputy prosecuting attorney for the Office of the Prosecutor of Huntington County.
The Constitution's architects understood that government needs power to protect its citizens, but that limits on this power must be observed in order to protect civil liberties. Since the founding, Americans have lived with the tension between security and freedom, and Huntington University will renew this 200-year long conversation through a discussion of current War on Terror strategies and recent judicial rulings on their constitutionality. The University seeks to educate the community that reasonable, patriotic Americans can disagree among themselves on how to address important issues of national security and civil liberties, and to remind everyone that the U.S. Constitution provides Americans with resources that enable the resolution of differences in just and equitable ways.
Contact Dr. Jeffrey Webb, associate professor of history at (260) 359-4243 with any questions about this panel discussion.
