Campus & community celebrate by ‘Contemplating the Constitution’

Tuesday, September 10, 2024

For the last four years, "Contemplating the Constitution" has invited the Oklahoma State University campus to share its thoughts and reflections on an aspect of the U.S. Constitution. This year, the program is expanding to invite participation from the entire Stillwater community.

The Constitution begins with the familiar phrase, "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice..." Participants are invited to consider one component of the preamble. The 2024 prompt asks: “What does ‘establish Justice’ mean to you? Distill your thoughts and observations into six words.”

Responses will be published to the OSU Library’s website and on display in Edmon Low Library the week of Constitution Day. More than 280 responses have already been submitted. Responses have included “Upholding justness and legitimacy for everyone,” “Impartiality, order, protection, accountability, harmony, integrity,” and “The creation of independent, fair courts.”

Constitution Day is a federal observance recognizing the ratification of the U.S. Constitution and those who have become citizens. It is observed on Sept. 17, the day the Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution in 1787. The law establishing the holiday was created in 2004. The act mandates that all publicly funded educational institutions provide educational programming on the history of the American Constitution on that day.

OSU students who participate in “Contemplating the Constitution” will have the opportunity to enter for a chance to win one of five $200 scholarships. To learn more about Contemplating the Constitution, see responses to this and previous years’ prompt and to submit your own six-word response, visit library.okstate.edu/constitution.

This year’s activity is co-sponsored by the OSU Library, the OSU Department of Political Science and Pi Sigma Alpha.