Constitution Week brings speakers, awareness to Liberty

  • Constitution Week focuses on separation of powers within U.S. government.
  • Speakers include Judge J. Harvey Wilkinson, former Press Secretary Mike McCurry, Rep. Trey Gowdy and Sen. Tim Scott.

Liberty University celebrated the 230th anniversary of the U.S Constitution with Constitution Week, an event coordinated by the Center for Law and Government, which brought an array of political speakers to campus Sept. 18-22.

Headed by the director of the Center for Law and Government, former U.S. Rep. Robert Hurt, Constitution Week was themed around the separation of power, a concept the Constitution was based on. Dividing the government into the legislative, judicial and executive branches prevents the abuse of power.

“The separation of powers is really the genius of the Constitution,” School of Government Dean Shawn Akers said. “That’s what the founders set out to do. It is to recognize on one hand the incredible good potential of man, and on the other hand, our terrible fallen nature. So they designed a document that balanced those two things: our potential for good and our fallen nature by separating the powers in a way that conflict with each other, and gave us a chance to both do the good and restrain the evil.”

Hurt said he believes the general public does not have an adequate grasp of the Constitution and hopes the event brought a better understanding of the foundational document.

“I think students and citizens do not have a full appreciation of what the Constitution provides in terms of a framework for protecting our individual liberties,” Hurt said. “Events like this are helpful because they educate our students as well as the public about the Constitution and remind us how important it is we understand it and that we do what’s necessary to preserve it as citizens are supposed to do.”

In addition to the speakers brought on campus, a replica of the Charters of Freedom—the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights—from the National Archives was put on display in the Jerry Falwell Library for the week.

The first session of the week, held Wednesday the 20th, featured Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson, a circuit judge serving on the United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. He talked about his new memoir focusing on how the rule of law was affected by the cultural revolution of the 1960s.

The next session was a panel discussion with U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte and United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals Steve Agee. Moderated by Hurt, the discussion focused on the third article of the Constitution — the judicial branch — and their experiences in it.

The first session of Thursday, the 21st, featured the former press secretary for Bill Clinton, Mike McCurry, and former Bush White House Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the Public Liaison Office Tim Goeglein. They spoke about the second article of the Constitution — the executive branch — and how it relates to other factors, such as Congress and the press.

Following that, former Deputy Campaign manager for Donald Trump David Bossie spoke about his experience on the campaign and the trials that came with it.

“I’ve worked on a lot of campaigns over the course of my life, but never had been in this position,” Bossie said. “The amount of the work and the importance of the work, it’s incredibly rewarding to participate, to help elect the next President of the United States. It’s not a small thing.”

The evening culminated with another panel featuring South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy and Sen. Tim Scott. The two talked about the first article of the Constitution — congress — and how it relates to all other factors in politics.

The two spoke at Convocation the next day, with Gowdy focusing on the importance and humanity of the law.

“The law is the most unifying and equalizing force that we have in our culture,” Gowdy said. “Our law is so unique that an individual citizen can challenge the United States of America in court and win. The law is our best effort at incenting good and punishing bad. It is our collective effort at monitoring the nature of mankind.”

Scott focused on how he grew in his understanding of the law and how his Christian beliefs have affected his view of it.

“When you think about the foundation of all that matters, we find ourselves in God’s amazing word,” Scott said.

Music major and Gowdy enthusiast, who came to Convocation wearing a T-shirt bearing Gowdy’s face, Austin Hurst said Constitution Week should be valuable to all students to promote a better understanding of the inner workings of politics.

“I think it’s good for a lot of people, especially people outside of the government,” Hurst said. “People inside the school of government, they know what’s going on to some degree, but the people outside don’t. It’s good to be informed.”

Dean of the Law School Keith Faulkner said the event was valuable to the students who attended.

“It’s great for our students to have the opportunity to meet with people who are impact players in this field,” Faulkner said. “These people are making the laws, from the congressman’s standpoint, and they’re also applying the laws, from the judicial standpoint, and seeing the interplay between those two is instrumental and just so helpful for our students to get a better understanding of the operation of law and the importance of the rule of law.”

Akers said he was pleased with the student involvement in the week.

“I’m extremely proud of the student body,” Akers said. “When we bring these people in, we’re holding out to them an impression of our campus, and this event, we had Democrats and Republicans, we had ideas that crossed all kinds of ideological boundaries, and, without exception, we had bright, articulate, statesmen-like Liberty students that were involved in that discussion, and they should be commended for that.”

 

 

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