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: “Religion and the American Constitutional Experiment” 
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: “Is the Shadow Docket Constitutional?” 
Speaker: Stephen I. Vladeck (Georgetown University Law Center)

Claremont McKenna College 
Topic: “Free Speech Rights and Wrongs: Current Controversies” 
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: “Keeping the Promise: The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution” 
Speaker: James Stoner (Louisiana State University) 

Institute of World Politics 
To be determined 

Lee University 
Event: 2025 Constitution Day Quiz Bowl and Lecture for High School Students  

Louisiana State University  
Topic: “Economist and Visionary: Adam Smith as American Revolutionary”
Speaker: Samuel Gregg (American Institute for Economic Research)  

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: “The 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution” 
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: “Preserving or Disrupting: The Supreme Court and the Balance of Power Today” 
Speaker: Linda Greenhouse (Yale University)  

San Diego State University 
Topic: “The Constitution, the Campus, and the Capital: Higher Education and Federal Power”
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: “Who Lays Down the Law: Congress, the President, or Someone Else?” 
Speaker: James Stoner (Louisiana State University) 

SUNY Geneseo 
Topic: “Why Democracy Needs Glory-Seekers: A Tocquevillian Analysis” 
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 Max Lykins (Bowdoin College) 

University of Wisconsin-Madison 
Topic: “Can Originalism ‘Get with the Times’?” 
Speaker: Lee Strang (The Ohio State University) 

Ursinus College 
Topic: “The Lost Soul of the American Presidency” 
Speaker: Stephen Knott (United States Naval War College) 

Utah Valley University 
Topic: “Frederick Douglass: The Making of an American” 
Speaker: Lucas Morel (Washington and Lee University) 

Xavier University 
Topic: “Free Speech on Campus: The First Amendment isn’t Enough”
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.