September 17, 2007
“Constitution Day”
Friends and Colleagues,
As you begin the Fall term, either as new or returning students at one of UC’s ten outstanding campuses, I want to welcome you, and wish you every success in your studies for the coming year.
Beyond expressing my best wishes, as the University’s chief academic officer I want to tell you about “Constitution Day.”
In 2005, a new federal law was enacted that requires all schools that receive federal funds to hold an educational program on the United States Constitution every year on Constitution Day, September 17, the anniversary of our country’s founding document.
Since the Fall term begins later than September 17 at most UC campuses, making it impractical to conduct such a program for students on or around that day, I would like to invite you instead to discover some of the interesting and informative materials about the Constitution that are available on-line though the National Archives and elsewhere.
I hope that each of you will take a few moments to do so now through the University’s Constitution Day website. I hope further that this brief exploration will spark your curiosity and – whatever your academic interest, whatever your country of citizenship or your political affiliation – broaden your knowledge of, and your appreciation for, this historically important document.
You are also privileged, as students at a great university like UC, to have ready access to a range and depth of historical, political, sociological and legal perspectives on the study of the U.S. Constitution through the many resources available to each of you at your home UC campus. These local resources are truly second to none, and in that spirit I encourage you to take the time to explore the extensive holdings of your campus main or branch libraries on the broad range of topics relevant to Constitutional Studies. Or you may prefer to broaden the focus of your curriculum to take a course – perhaps on an elective basis outside your major or academic specialty – in history, political science, law or another discipline that aligns with some aspect of Constitutional Studies; or undertake Independent Study or some other research-oriented enterprise germane to this intellectually most rewarding field.
Again, I wish you prosperity and success in all your academic studies in the year ahead.
Sincerely,
Wyatt R. Hume
Provost and Executive Vice President
Academic and Health Affairs
University of California