"Morality and the Constitution" is Topic for Constitution Day Panel Sept. 18

Old Dominion University will observe Constitution and Citizenship Day on Thursday, Sept. 18, with panel presentations on "Morality and the Constitution." The program is free and open to the public.

Sponsored by ODU's Institute for Ethics and Public Affairs, the event will begin at 7:30 p.m., preceded by a reception at 7 p.m., in the Mills Godwin Jr. Building auditorium. A question-and-answer period will follow the presentations.

Tom Robotham, former editor-in-chief of Port Folio Weekly, will serve as moderator. The panelists are:

• William Van Alstyne, Lee Professor of Law, College of William and Mary;

• Rebecca Beach Smith, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia; and

• Dale E. Miller, associate professor and chair, ODU Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies.

In 2004, Congress passed a provision mandating that every school and college receiving federal money must teach about the Constitution annually. Last year marked the 220th anniversary of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787.