Constitution Day was last Tuesday, Sept. 17, a holiday that you have probably never heard of. It is held on the anniversary of the day that 39 delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution in Philadelphia.

The holiday was formally created in 2004 (replacing the holiday of Citizenship Day) through Senator Robert Byrd’s (D-WV) efforts. Believing that there was a lack of knowledge of the American Constitution, Byrd included a provision in the 2004 Omnibus spending bill that requires all educational institutions receiving federal funding to hold educational programming related to the Constitution on the holiday. The type of programming to be held is up to the discretion of the institution. As a recipient of federal funding, Wesleyan University is legally required to hold an educational event commemorating Constitution Day. Yet, despite accepting federal funds, the University did not hold an educational event. The closest thing to an educational event was free pocket constitutions handed out to students at Olin Library. Will students really learn about the Constitution from this, or will they just treat them like pieces of clutter given out by a crazy individual you might see in the middle of Times Square? While the school did not teach about our founding document, it did manage to hold a wine and cheese event for the Class of 2025 that same week, making this the second consecutive year that Wesleyan failed to hold an educational event for Constitution Day. The most recent educational programming held by the University commemorating Constitution Day was in 2022, a performance of “The Bill of Rights: Ten Amendments in Eight Motets” and a discussion about the Bill of Rights.

Wesleyan is not alone in abdicating its legal responsibility to hold educational programming on Constitution Day. A survey of thirty elite colleges and universities by The National Association of Scholars in 2021 found that 46% of them held no events for Constitution Day. And many institutions take an expansive definition of the term “educational” when holding events on Constitution Day. New York University’s 2019 Constitution Day event was a reading of the transcript from the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Columbia University’s programming this year consisted of handing out pocket constitutions at its Low Library. While these efforts are better than nothing, I learned more about the Constitution in my seventh-grade civics class than anything I would learn from these “educational” events. 

It is time for Wesleyan and other colleges and universities to start commemorating Constitution Day. The educational programming about the Constitution does not have to be pro-Constitution propaganda, à la a modern iteration of John Wayne’s 1968 film “Green Berets.” Thank the Constitution’s First Amendment prohibition on compelled speech for that! The programming just has to be about the Constitution. Modern topics could range from discussions about this summer’s landmark Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity, the purpose of the electoral college in modern America, or even a wacky topic like the little-known Constitutional right to be a pirate (with Congressional authorization).

There is good reason for educating the populace, particularly students, about the Constitution. In his 1838 address to the Young Men’s Lyceum, a 28-year-old man named Abraham Lincoln warned that the union was at risk of falling to mobs of people who held contempt for our nation’s laws. 

“Let reverence for the laws, be breathed by every American mother, to the lisping babe, that prattles on her lap—let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges,” Lincoln said in response. 

Education about and respect for the laws is how the Union will survive.

Yet, as a nation, we have failed when it comes to constitutional education. A poll released this month by the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center found that only 7% of Americans can name all five rights in the First Amendment; 22% of the individuals polled thought that the right to bear arms was contained in the First Amendment. 65% of Americans could name all three branches of government—up from only 47% in 2022. Improvement! And if you thought that was concerning, wait until you hear that 10% of Americans think Judge Judy is on the United States Supreme Court.

In a recent op-ed in The New York Times, President Michael Roth ’78 said that he hopes Wesleyan is “even more political this year.” I agree. Colleges are supposed to be the breeding grounds for our nation’s future political and thought leaders. However, that is simply impossible unless students understand the bedrock of our democratic republic: the Constitution. For the majority of Americans, their understanding of the Constitution is as strong as their ability to read hieroglyphics. However, we can change that through education. Next year, Wesleyan should teach the Constitution on Constitution Day.

Blake Fox is in the class of 2026 and can be reached at bfox@wesleyan.edu.