by Christopher Sanchez
Daily Lobo
UNM commemorated the anniversary of the U.S. Constitution on Friday - something which is mandated by law.
President George Bush signed Constitution Day into law on Dec. 8, 2004. It requires all federally funded educational institutions to hold an educational program about the Constitution on Sept. 17 every year.
About 30 students and faculty members assembled in the SUB to celebrate Constitution Day, which recognizes the signing of the U.S. Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787.
Because Constitution Day was on Saturday, UNM held the program on Friday so students and faculty could attend.
Peter Kierst, a political science professor at UNM, said the Constitution was created to protect individual rights - not the majority or minority.
"We speak quite erroneously of majority rights and minority rights but there is no such thing in the Constitutional scheme," Kierst said. "Rights are something that inhere in individual human beings."
UNM President Louis Caldera said there would not be repercussions if the school didn't participate in the day, but it held it out of the respect for the law.
"There is no enforcement mechanism," Caldera said. "There may be some institutions that do nothing."
Among others, Iowa State University, Santa Clara University, Lawrence University in Wisconsin and the University of Baltimore celebrated the day with informational events.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Caldera also attended Kierst's speech and said it was insightful.
"If you haven't thought about the Constitution in a while, and you want to be stimulated with the Constitution and current issues, it was really good," Caldera said.
Kierst said in his speech that people must remember the framers of the Constitution created the Electoral College because there was lack of communication during the time.
"In recent years the framers have been particularly criticized for not allowing the people to choose the president directly," Kierst said. "The premise of the Electoral College was not that we were too stupid or wicked to pick a president, but that we lacked sufficient information to make a rational choice."
On Friday, people were able to take a pocket-sized book, American Legacy, which contains the U.S. Constitution and other American historical documents, including the Mayflower Compact and John F. Kennedy's inaugural address. One thousand copies of the book were ordered for the event.
Heather Scheehl, a UNM student who attended the speech, said the pocket-sized Constitution is a must-have.
"Every American should have one," Scheehl said. "Carry it around, read it, know it."
Caldera said Constitution Day is needed in today's society.
"I think there is a yearning to improve the quality of our civic life," he said.
Scheehl said she didn't expect many people to be interested in Constitution Day.
"I'm surprised how many people were here," she said. "I'm impressed with the turnout."
