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Constitution Day

2024

In celebration of the 237th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution's signing in Philadelphia, Miami is holding its ninth annual Citizenship and Democracy Week in September 2024.  Coordinated again this year by the University’s Menard Family Center for Democracy, this year’s Citizenship and Democracy Week includes the following events:

  • 2024 Joyce Hulse Manko Lecture on Government: Professor Akil Reed Amar (Yale University), “The Words That Made Us:  America’s Constitutional Conversation” - Thursday, September 12, 7 p.m., Parrish Auditorium, Miami Hamilton.  Co-sponsored by the Menard Family Center for Democracy, the League of Women Voters of Oxford and the Joyce Hulse Manko Fund, this lecture by our nation’s preeminent scholar of early American law and politics will explore how ordinary Americans over time have shaped the meaning and influence of America’s basic charter of government. (Free and open to the public; no ticket required.  At this event, free copies of Professor Amar’s award-winning book The Words That Made Us: America’s Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840 (Basic Books, 2021) will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.)
  • On-Campus Oral Arguments: Ohio Court of Appeals for the 12th District -- Monday, September 16, 10-11:30 a.m., Wilks Conference Center, Miami Hamilton. Co-sponsored by the Menard Family Center for Democracy and the Department of Justice and Community Studies, this event provides the Miami community with an opportunity to observe the state judiciary 'in action.'  Appellate lawyers will argue two actual cases before a panel of three judges. (Free and open to the public; no ticket required.)
  • Interactive Event:  Can You Pass the U.S. Citizenship Test? -- Monday, September 16, 12-1p.m., Jack Rhodes Study, Mosler Hall, Miami Hamilton.  How would you do on the civics test administered to new U.S. citizens?  Come and find out as we  the test administered to new citizens and view a brief documentary about the naturalization process.  Lunch provided for participants -- and prizes for competition winners!  Co-sponsored by the Department of Humanities and Creative Arts and the Menard Family Center for Democracy. (Free and open to the public; no ticket required.)
  • U.S. District Court Naturalization Ceremony - Tuesday, Sept. 17, 10 a.m., Miami Hamilton quad and lawn. Co-sponsored by the Menard Family Center for Democracy and the Department of Justice and Community Studies, with major support from the College of Liberal Arts and Applied Science, the City of Hamilton, the Butler County Board of Elections, the Butler County Sheriff’s Office and the Miami Regionals Office of Diversity and Multicultural Services.  (Free and open to the public; no ticket required.)
  • Rapid Rights Symposium/Discussion -- Wednesday, Sept. 18, 10:00-11:00 a.m.-Jack Rhodes Study, Schwarm Hall Commons, Miami Hamilton. Student research presentations on over a dozen civil liberties issues that face Americans today. Sponsored by the Department of Justice and Community Studies.  (Free and open to the public; no ticket required.)
  • Free Speech Forum - Wednesday, September 18, 3-4 p.m., Jack Rhodes Study, Miami Hamilton. A campus-wide discussion of freedom of expression, moderated by Dr. Daniel Hall, Professor of Political Science and Justice and Community Studies.  (Free and open to the public; no ticket required.)
  • Ohio Intercollegiate Leadership and Government Conference -- Friday, September 20-Sunday, September 22, Harrison Hall, Miami Oxford.  This inaugural student-led event, presented with support from the Miami University Honors College and the Menard Family Center for Democracy, will engage up to 50 undergraduates in an extended (three-day-long) immersive simulation of public policy making.  (Participation open to Miami undergraduates by invitation only.)

For more information about Miami’s annual event, please contact Dr. John Forren, Executive Director of the Menard Family Center for Democracy, at forrenjp@MiamiOH.edu.

2023

In celebration of the 236th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution's signing in Philadelphia, Miami held its eighth annual Citizenship and Democracy Week. Coordinated by the University’s Menard Family Center for Democracy, the 2023 Citizenship and Democracy Week featured the following events, all free and open to the public: On-Campus Oral Arguments: Ohio Court of Appeals for the 12th District; How Does the Naturalization Process Work?; U.S. District Court Naturalization Ceremony; Rapid Rights Symposium/Discussion; Free Speech Forum; and, the Civic Career Fair.

2022

In September 2022, Miami commemorated the 235th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution's signing in Philadelphia by holding its seventh annual Citizenship and Democracy Week, a series of events held in Oxford and at the Regional campuses to promote civic learning and engagement. Coordinated by the University’s Menard Family Center for Democracy, the 2022 Citizenship and Democracy Week included the following events, all free and open to the public: U.S. District Court Naturalization Ceremony; On-Campus Oral Argument Session: Ohio Court of Appeals for the 12th District; Rapid Rights Symposium/Discussion; Free Speech; Public Lecture: Daniel Ziblatt (Harvard University), "The Life and Death of Democracies"; and, the Civic Career Fair.

Miami’s annual Citizenship and Democracy Week was highlighted in the American Political Science Association’s Teaching Civic Engagement Across the Disciplines (2017) as a model of effective interdisciplinary civics programming within higher education. 

2021

After a pandemic-related pause in 2020, Miami again commemorated the anniversary of the U.S. Constitution's signing on September 17, 1787, by holding its sixth annual Citizenship and Democracy Week, a broad multi-campus, multi-event program aimed at promoting civic learning and engagement in our local communities. Coordinated and sponsored by the University’s Menard Family Center for Democracy, the 2021 Citizenship and Democracy Week included public lectures, special session of the Ohio Court of Appeals, public symposium, free speech forum, naturalization ceremony, and simulation.