Published: September 14, 2007 10:03 pm         

MSU to host free Constitution Day

Freedom of speech is just one of the freedoms provided in the Constitution, and Mountain State University officials are urging the public to come out and learn how a document more than 200 years old still provides that.

From 2 to 3 p.m. Monday, MSU will host a Constitution Day celebration at its Carter Hall auditorium in Beckley. The event is free.

“It’s an opportunity for the academic community and the Beckley community to come together and remember the United States Constitution,” said Dr. Vincent Beach, dean of the MSU School of Arts and Sciences.

The university has invited members of its faculty, plus citizens in such job fields as law and history, to help students and fellow citizens understand the importance of the Constitution, Beach said. The workshop will also feature a 10-minute video presentation called “Key Constitutional Concepts: Creating a Constitution,” produced by the Annenburg Foundation.

The document adopted in 1787 allows Americans to partake in daily activities they often take for granted, according to Beach.

“We are able to speak freely, as long as it is not libel or slander, without fear of consequences,” he said. “When we are accused, we are entitled to an articulate defense.

“We have these opportunities in a society not ruled by a monarch. In Europe, at the time of the Revolutionary War, the monarchs had the last word. What they stated was right and the law, and if you didn’t like it, you would go to jail.”

Beach said the way people function on the streets of Beckley would be drastically different if the Constitution did not exist. He urged people to come out to the event, at which attendees will be given copies of the Constitution and Bill of Rights to take home.

“We should take the time, once a year, to remember and think about this,” he said.

Speakers for the event include Beach, history instructor Doug Elliot, legal studies director Dr. Priscilla Gay, Register-Herald features editor Audrey Stanton and Dr. Nelson Staples, assistant professor of criminal justice at MSU.

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