Wake Forest University honors Constitution Day

Wake Forest University will celebrate Constitution Day from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Thursday, September 17, in the Annenberg Forum in Carswell Hall.

The celebration is part of a nationwide initiative to promote increased understanding of the U.S. Constitution and the role it plays in today’s world. The event is free and open to the public.

Clay Hipp, a Senior Lecturer in Legal Studies at the Wake Forest Schools of Business, will present a lecture on the “The Liberty of Ownership: A Primer on the Constitutional ‘Idea’ of Property.”

“I will try to put the idea of "property" into some sort of perspective–both practically and constitutionally,” Hipp says. “The very thought of it excites our proprietary instincts. The market and free enterprise are dependent upon it. But…Is property a ‘natural’ right of being an American? Does it trump all (or most) other values? Is it absolute and inviolable? Is protection of individual property interests one of the few, essential, duties of government? Our individual liberties must all be read in the context of the Constitution as a whole.”

Free pizza and beverages will follow the presentation.

In December 2004, Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia added an amendment to Public Law 108-447, requiring all educational institutions that receive federal funds provide an educational program on Sept. 17, commemorating the date that the U.S. Constitution was adopted in 1787. The Wake Forest University Constitution Day 2009 is sponsored by the Schools of Business.