The Jack Miller Center sponsors 31 new scholar-led Constitution Day programs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 28, 2025

PHILADELPHIA, PA — The Jack Miller Center is proud to partner with scholars on 31 college and university campuses for Constitution Day events around the country. These Constitution Day events will offer debates, lectures, seminars, and other events aimed at improving constitutional literacy for students, campus faculty and staff, and the greater public.  

Constitution Day marks the signing of the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787. In 2004, Congress officially designated September 17 as Constitution Day, requiring public schools and government offices to promote constitutional literacy. Many institutions, however, lack the resources to host a quality program or forgo programming altogether.  

Since 2011, JMC’s Constitution Day Initiative has helped to fill this gap, supporting hundreds of campus events. 

 “The Constitution Day Initiative plays a vital role in our mission. It improves student understanding of our Constitution by enabling access to excellent scholars of the American Founding—many of whom are part of our JMC network,” said Tom Cleveland, executive director of the American Political Tradition Project at the Jack Miller Center. 

At colleges and universities, Constitution Day is an opportunity for students to reflect on America’s founding principles and the constitutional framework that guides our nation. Campus lectures will feature a broad range of topics, including intellectual origins of the Constitution, the relation of the Constitution to the Declaration of Independence, and executive power and its limits under the Constitution.   

“In listening to Professor Morel talk about the constitutional thought of Frederick Douglass, I hope students will see how the U.S. Constitution shaped political debate and informed political leaders at a previous moment in American history and how it can continue to do that for us today,” said Verlan Lewis, JMC senior fellow for constitutional studies and associate professor of political science at Utah Valley University. 

The Jack Miller Center’s support for Constitution Day events is part of a larger effort to engage college students in the thoughtful study of America’s founding principles in order to ensure the continued success of the American experiment. It also strengthens the JMC talent pipeline by empowering program directors to build community on campus and by providing speaking opportunities within our network of scholars. 

“More than ever, young people need to feel connected to the American founding, that the American experiment in self-government is an integral part of their lives and history. Constitution Day is a perfect opportunity for students to make this vital connection,” said Jeffrey Tyler Syck, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Pikeville. 

The Jack Miller Center’s Constitution Day Initiative has built momentum in the civic education renaissance happening now at institutions of higher education.  

“Institutions of higher education are duty-bound to foster such engagement with our founding ideals, debates, challenges, and triumphs. JMC’s support of Constitution Day events at universities across the country represents a crucial, tangible investment in precisely this sort of education,” said Jesse Crosson, an associate professor of political science at Purdue University. 

Learn more about JMC-supported events happening on campuses across the nation:  

2025 Constitution Day Events

Belmont Abbey College 
Topic: “The American Revolution, Remembered and Considered” 
Speaker: Wilfred McClay (Hillsdale College)   

Benedictine College 
Topic: Freedom of association and freedom of the church 
Speaker: Richard Garnett (University of Notre Dame) 

Campbell University 
Topic: “Recovering the Republicanism of the American Founding” 
Speaker: James Patterson (University of Tennessee, Knoxville)  

Catholic University of America 
Topic: Founders’ conception of higher education 
Speaker: Lee Trepanier (Assumption University) 

Christendom College 
Topic: Madison, the 2024 presidential election, and presidential “mandates” 
Speaker: Zachary German (University of Tennessee, Knoxville)  

Christopher Newport University 
Topic: Limits of executive power 
Speakers: John Yoo (University of California, Berkeley) and Saikrishna B. Prakash (University of Virginia) 

Claremont McKenna College 
Topic: Free speech on campus 
Speaker: Nadine Strossen (New York Law School) 

Duke University 
Topic: Constitution Day Lecture 
Speaker: Michael Zuckert (University of Notre Dame) 

Emory University 
Topic: Presidential authority under the U.S. Constitution 
Speaker: Benjamin Kleinerman (Baylor University) 

Great Hearts America 
Topic: Relationship of the Declaration to Constitution 
Speaker: James Stoner (Louisiana State University) 

Institute of World Politics 
To be determined 

Lee University 
Event: Constitution quiz bowl and lecture for high school students  

Louisiana State University  
Speaker: Samuel Gregg (American Enterprise Institute)  

Missouri State University 
Topic: Pursuit of happiness in the founding era 
Speaker: Carli Conklin (University of Missouri) 

Ohio State University 
Topic: Frederick Douglass, free speech, and the ‘right of the hearer’ 
Speaker: Lucas Morel (Washington and Lee University) 

Ohio University 
Topic: Intellectual origins of the revolution and the shaping of the constitution 
Speaker: Patrick Griffin (University of Notre Dame) 

Pepperdine University 
Topic: The shepherd of American courage: How King David shaped the United States 
Speaker: Stuart Halpern (Yeshiva University) 

Purdue University 
Topic: Relationship of Congress to court 
Speaker: Yuval Levin (American Enterprise Institute)  

San Diego State University 
Speaker: Susan McWilliams Barndt (Pomona College) 

Seton Hill University 
Topic: Frederick Douglass’s contribution to understanding the Constitution 
Speaker: Nicholas Buccola (Claremont McKenna College) 

St. Ambrose University 
Topic: The separation of powers 
Speaker: James Stoner (Louisiana State University) 

SUNY Geneseo 
Topic: Tocqueville and “democracy’s civic crisis” 
Speaker: Dana Stauffer (University of Texas at Austin) 

Texas State University 
Speaker: Jeremy Bailey (University of Florida) 

University of Florida 
Speakers: Allen Guelzo (University of Florida), Jeremey Bailey (University of Florida), Adam Lebovitz (University of Florida) 

University of Houston 
Topic: Civic education within constitutional order 
Speaker: Paul Carrese (Arizona State University) 

University of North Texas 
Topic: Executive power 
Speaker: Benjamin Kleinerman (Baylor University)  

University of Pikeville 
Speakers: Nancy Cade (University of Pikeville) and Greg McBrayer (Ashland University) 

University of Wisconsin-Madison 
Topic: Future of originalism on the Supreme Court 
Speaker: Lee Strang (The Ohio State University) 

Ursinus College 
Topic: Has the American presidency lost its Constitutional soul? 
Speaker: Stephen Knott (Ashland University) 

Utah Valley University 
Topic: The Constitution of Knowledge 
Speaker: Jonathan Rauch (Brookings Institution) 

Xavier University 
Speaker: Jonathan Marks (Ursinus College)

For media inquiries or further information, please contact:

Marlee Promisel
Director of External Relations, Jack Miller Center
media@gojmc.org

About the Jack Miller Center

The Jack Miller Center is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization advancing the work of scholars who teach and study the ideas, documents, and history we hold in common as Americans. We seek to grow the talent pipeline of university educators who teach the American political tradition, to forge new models for university-based training of K-12 civics and history teachers, and to build a diverse coalition of Americans to ignite a civic education renaissance.