The University of Virginia marked Constitution Day this week with a series of events across Grounds.
Constitutional scholar Paul Carrese spoke to Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy students and faculty on Monday, emphasizing the importance of civic engagement, especially as political violence further divides Americans and strains the foundations of the nation’s democracy.
“Our current civic decay calls for the University of Virginia, of all places, to recover the wisdom in the founding plan for the University,” he said.
Interim President Paul Mahoney joined students on the Lawn and invited them to read the preamble to the Constitution, and asked what “We the People” means to Wahoos. The videos have gained more than 17,000 views.
“‘We the People’ to me, as a naturalized citizen, means an invitation to join America in its democratic ideals and the foundation of what I believe our country is best at, and what makes it such a beautiful and free place to live,” one student said.
Constitution Day commemorates the signing of one of America’s pivotal documents on Sept. 17, 1787. UVA Founder Thomas Jefferson was not among the signers as he was in Paris at the time, but he corresponded frequently with Founding Father James Madison to help shape the historic document.
