Maryville College Constitution Day observance on Sept. 17 open to students and public
Sept. 12, 2025
Two hundred and thirty-eight years ago on Wednesday, a four-month long session in Philadelphia culminated in the signing of the United States Constitution at Independence Hall, a historic event that will be celebrated by the annual Constitution Day observance at Maryville College.
Established by an amendment to a 2004 spending bill by the late Sen. Robert Byrd, Sept. 17 is a federal observance that requires all educational institutions that receive federal funds to provide educational programming on the history of the U.S. Constitution on that day. It became law the following year, and since 2005, Sept. 17 (or in the first few days that follow, if the 17th lands on a weekend) has been a traditional observance at higher education institutions across the country.
At Maryville College, that’s taken the form of a “Know Your Constitution” event designed to be both fun and educational, according to Political Science Professor Dr. Mark O’Gorman.
“Faculty members will ask questions about the U.S. Constitution, and participants and students can provide answers — and those who answer more questions will receive prizes,” O’Gorman said. “The hope is that this will be an event that reminds folks about the importance of this central document of America.”
O’Gorman will be joined by history professors Dr. Aaron Astor, Dr. Doug Sofer and Dr. Dan Klingensmith, all of whom have contributed questions to the gameshow-style constitutional faceoff. The event will begin at noon and will take place in the Proffitt Dining Room inside Pearsons Hall. Light refreshments will also be served, and the public is invited to take part in in the contest, which will also include a guided forum that will feature an open-ended discussion of ongoing Constitutional issues.
“Sadly, some Americans may not be as familiar with the U.S. Constitution as we’d like them to be,” O’Gorman said. “Any effort to remind folks about this document is a good thing. The beauty of our republic is that, during times of uncertainty, Americans can return to our most central founding document — the Constitution of the United States — to understand how our federal government works, and why a national guided by law is central to our nation’s past and future journey.”
The event is free and open to the public, and citizens are encouraged to join the MC community in exploring the document that established the framework for the national government, put in place basic laws and guaranteed certain basic rights for its citizens.
“Consistent with Maryville College’s whole-person, liberating education, this event will be a genuine conversation that leads everyone to draw their own conclusions about multiple important aspects of our country’s foundational compact,” Sofer added.