Alabama Supreme Court Justice Will Sellers delivered a lecture Monday evening in HAL Hall to teach students about the importance of celebrating Constitution Day.
Dr. Allen Mendenhall, associate dean and Professor in the Sorrell College of Business, kicked off the lecture with an opening statement.
“On this Constitution Day, we should not only honor our chief governing document and the leaders who made its provisions and ratification possible, but also strive to be better, more knowledgeable citizens, to appreciate the long chain of human accomplishment that made possible our cherished freedoms under the law,” Mendenhall said.
Sellers specifically wants students to celebrate Constitution Day and to understand the role the Constitution plays in their education.
“I think the Constitution gives us the rights that you enjoy of the educational experience that you have,” Sellers said. “You have academic freedom, the right to free speech and other constitutional rights.
“I think that students need to understand these rights because the Constitution animates the ability to do some of the things that you probably take for granted.”
Students in attendance chimed in with their thoughts on why their peers should take part in celebrating Constitution Day.
“It’s important for students to commemorate their own founding document,” said Luis Carlos Araujo Quintero, a graduate assistant pursuing his master's in economics from Guatemala. “It’s not just a legal document that is beyond the interest of ordinary people.
“It’s the foundation of the United States in and of itself. Having an understanding of how your political system works is important.”
International student Xiaopeng Zheng, a freshman majoring in finance economics from Guizhou, China, was also present for Seller’s lecture.
“Justice Seller’s lecture was meaningful,” Zheng said. “The lecture taught me why America's constitution is special and why we should celebrate it.”
Sellers’s lecture also addressed those who are skeptical of celebrating the Constitution.
“The Constitution is something to celebrate because we have proof that it works,” Sellers said. “We have over two-hundred years of results and we should be proud of it.”
Constitution Day falls every Sept. 17.
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