On Thursday, September 19th, Norwich students, staff, and alumni gathered in the lobby of the Kreitzburg Library for the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the recently completed Constitution Place.
In the weeks since its opening, the corner has been visited by several classes to learn about the U.S Constitution in a whole new way.
“…I thought it was great, well attended”, said Dr. Jason F. Jagemann, the Political Science Undergraduate Program Director and an associate professor at Norwich University, referring to the Sept. 19 opening ceremony.
Jagemann continued by elaborating on his role in the event. “I spoke a little bit about the utility of the project and moving forward and the kind of obligations I think we have as citizens, especially at Norwich University, to really take into consideration what that mission of Norwich is and to revitalize civic education”
According to those involved in the project, the main idea for the Constitution Place came from a need to inform. “The issue was basically the high level of ignorance, or put another way, the low level of understanding of the Constitution and all of its implications across the country, and how it was affecting our politics, our government, and our relationships between people”, said Richard Hayden, Norwich alumni from the Class of 1968 and lead donor for the project.
“The plan basically says we are going to start a process that will result in every Norwich graduate being literate in the Constitution, meaning that they not only know, but can recite what the words say, but they know what they mean in practice”, said Hayden, in reference to the ultimate goal and purpose of the project.
In the Constitution Place, there are interactive summaries and sections that not only feature excerpts and interpretations of the U.S. Constitution—but other essential documents that Prof. Jagemann had worked on and refined over this past summer.
Jagemann expanded on the purpose of these documents, stating that “the first thing that I noticed was that at the beginning, I may have been aiming at a more academic audience when the audience was for the everyday person, right? [Anyone from] the high school student who could come in and visit and check it out to the president of Norwich. It has to be something that people can consume, right? That they could understand”.
One aspect of the exhibit that Prof. Jagemann found to be the most important was the inclusion of debate and compromise. “[Debate is] not a flaw in democracy, but its strength. And I think we tried to, in this initial phase, try to capture that debate as a feature of and not a flaw of democracy or republicanism. So I’m proud of how we worked as a team to present that”.
“[The founding fathers] had very divergent points of view as well”, Hayden mentioned in a follow-up to Dr. Jagemann’s point. “Just like the Norwich mission statement says, they debated respectfully and came to a compromise. They said the existence of the country as a whole is more important than winning a particular argument.”
The part of the Constitution Place that Hayden was most proud of was the use it would provide to Norwich students, “One, that this is going to be what defines Norwich’s character going forward…but that’s up to all of us. We can say that, but it’s up to the faculty and the students, and the leadership to make it happen. But I would say to the students that you have to understand that this is really, really important”.
And if that opening ceremony was any indication, the Constitution Place is going to be in good hands for a long time. “Mr. Hayden spoke and gave some background…the commandant offered some words…Hector Aponte, the student government president, joined us for the actual ribbon cutting…and I got to talk with alumni, younger and more seasoned and older alumni about the project” said Jagemann when detailing the members of the Norwich community in attendance.
“We had different people representing different kinds of constituencies of the university, gelling together around the common theme of the dearth or lack of civic knowledge, generally speaking, and jumpstarting that through the Constitution Place”.
Alden Partridge’s mission to produce citizen-soldiers can only be realized if this school teaches the importance and the functions behind the Constitution, which this corner seeks to provide. For years to come, it will serve to educate the citizen-soldiers of Norwich University and provide them with the fundamental constitutional education that will make them better in both military and civilian life.
