TOPEKA– Students, staff and faculty are invited to Washburn’s 2009 Constitution Day event at 2:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 17 in Henderson 100. Alex Glashausser, professor and associate dean, School of Law, will present “Constitutional Conflict: Judicial Supremacy and Congressional Power.”

The history of Constitution Day & Citizenship Day:

In 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt designated the third Sunday in May as “I Am an American Day.” The observance, as stated by Roosevelt, was to honor those who have recently become members of our body politic, and at the same time reaffirm our allegiance to the principles of American citizenship.

He called upon federal, state and local officials, as well as patriotic and civic organizations, to hold exercises designed to impress upon our citizens, both native-born and naturalized, the privileges of their new status in our democracy and their responsibility for building this nation’s security and advancing its welfare.

Twelve years later, President Harry S. Truman signed a bill that renamed the holiday “Citizenship Day” and moved the observance to Sept. 17, the date the Constitution was signed in 1787. Following the passage of a joint resolution in 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower proclaimed the week beginning Sept. 17 and ending Sept. 23 each year as “Constitution Week.”

Senator Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) entered an amendment, known as Public Law 108-477, to the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2005 that changed the name of the Sept. 17 holiday to “Constitution Day and Citizenship Day.”

The purpose of “Constitution Day” and “Citizenship Day” is to honor and celebrate the privileges and responsibilities of U.S. citizenship for both native-born and naturalized citizens, while commemorating the creation and signing of the supreme law of our land.

For more information, call 670-1154.