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Release
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President
Kermit L. Hall |
July 4th Sparks Exploration
of Bill of Rights
UAlbany President
Kermit Hall leads K-12 teachers from across the
nation in a constitutional law institute
Contacts:
ALBANY,
N.Y. (June 23, 2005) -- While Americans across
the nation celebrate Independence Day with
picnics and fireworks, a group of 35 dedicated
schoolteachers will convene at UAlbany to learn
more about the nation's Bill of Rights and
how they can better incorporate it in their
classroom teaching.
Led by University at Albany president and
constitutional scholar Kermit L. Hall, author
and editor of 21 books on the American legal
and constitutional system, including the award-winning
Oxford Companion to the
Supreme Court of the United States (New York, Oxford University
Press, 2nd revised edition, 2005), "We
the People: The Citizen and the Constitution" is
a six-day institute on constitutional rights
for educators from public and private elementary,
middle, and high schools across the nation.
Hall, serving as academic director for the
institute, will team with political scientists
Martin Edelman of UAlbany and Stephen Schechter
of Russell Sage College, and Indiana teacher
Drew Horvath, to guide participants through
a in-depth analysis of the American Bill of
Rights. Hall, Edelman, Schechter, and Horvath
will work with the teachers to explore constitutional
rights from the United States, Canada, England,
Israel, and South Africa. Participants will
be asked to evaluate the Bill of Rights and
will "update" the work of James Madison,
designing a "new" American Bill of
Rights -- an activity they in turn will ask
their students to do.
“The events of the past several years
have made this discussion particularly relevant,” said
Hall. “We give little thought to constitutional
rights as we go about our day-to-day dealings,
but these rights shape every aspect of our
work, relationships, and personal activities.”
Since the inception of the “We the People” program
in 1987, more than 26 million students and
100,000 educators have been introduced to the
1791 Bill of Rights, the document that guarantees
and outlines many freedoms in the United States.
“We the People,” a national program,
is sponsored by the Center for Civic Education,
which promotes civic competence and responsibility
among young people. Students involved in the
program develop greater commitment to democratic
principles and values, according to a study
conducted by Richard Brody, a professor at
Stanford University. Independent studies by
Educational Testing Services have revealed
that “We the People” students significantly
outperformed comparison student groups on every
topic of the test taken.
The seminar, held on the UAlbany uptown campus
at Empire Commons, Community Building Room
110, begins Sunday, July 3, and runs through
Friday, July 8.
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