UW REMEMBERS “RED SCARE:” The University of Wyoming will celebrate Constitution Day 2006 with a presentation "Conversations about the Constitution: Banned Books" at noon on Monday, Sept. 18, in the Wyoming Union Gardens. Phil Roberts, UW associate professor of history, along with Rick Ewig, associate director for the American Heritage Center (AHC), will lead Monday's discussion. They will discuss censorship efforts and book banning on the UW campus in the 1940s, along with recent issues related to book censoring and banning.

"In 1947, the university Board of Trustees tried to ban or censor some textbooks on campus in an effort to minimize communist influences," Ewig says. "The board, reflecting American mentality of that time, feared the influence of communist-based thoughts and theories. Banning certain texts and censoring many others was their way of protecting the students from the second 'Red Scare.' " The "protection" however, took its toll on free speech and academic freedom, he adds.

Participants will have a chance to see banned books from past and present in displays at Coe Library and the Wyoming Union. "Our main goal for Constitution Day 2006 is to provide the information to start conversations about the Constitution that are relevant to everyone on campus -- students and faculty alike," says Kristi Wallin, Wyoming Partnership for Civic Education (PCE) project director.

Nationally, Constitution Day is in its second year. In 2004, Congress passed a federal law stating all schools that receive federal funds are required to hold an educational program to memorialize the Constitution every year on its anniversary. The U.S. Constitution was signed on Sept. 17, 1787. Its contents are important in many aspects of daily life including: privacy laws and the public health system; trade regulations and agriculture; religious practices; and the First Amendment, Wallin says.
- posted by Michael Shay @ 3:36 PM