Baylor celebrates 225th anniversary of Constitution’s signing with ‘On Topic’ conversation

Monday was the 225th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution, an event annually celebrated as Constitution Day in the United States. The day has taken on added importance at Baylor since the hiring of Ken Starr as president, given Judge Starr’s status as one of the nation’s top constitutional scholars.

To celebrate the occasion, Judge Starr welcomed to campus Yale professor Akhil Reed Amar, another of the country’s leading experts on the Constitution, for the latest in the President’s series of “On Topic” public conversations. The pair of scholars discussed not only the document as it exists today, but also “America’s unwritten Constitution,” rights that are sometimes assumed or taken for granted that are not, in fact, delineated in our governing documents.

[LINKS: Watch the entire “On Topic” conversation || Photos from the event || Judge Starr’s guest column on the importance of the Constitution]

Amar is just one of many top scholars brought to Waco and the Baylor campus each year for free public lectures. This event was the fourth in Judge Starr’s ongoing “On Topic” series, following T. Boone Pickens, Condoleezza Rice and Sandra Day O’Connor, and departments across campus are constantly featuring guest lectures. To stay on top of all the offerings, bookmark baylor.edu/calendar.

Sic ’em, guest speakers, for sharing your knowledge so freely!

[And while we’re talking anniversaries… Wednesday marked the 125th anniversary of Baylor’s first day of class in Waco (after 41 years in Independence, Texas). Those first Waco classes were held in Old Main, still the heart of the Baylor campus.]