On Thursday, September 15, Carnegie Mellon celebrated the first annual National Constitution Day at the Posner Center. In honor of the new holiday that commemorates the signing of the United States Constitution in 1787, displays were set up in the entranceway of the Posner Center on many topics pertaining to the Constitution, and small desserts and pastries were served along with refreshments.

Guests were allowed to peruse all of the materials about the Constitution while waiting for the keynotespeech to begin. Among the educational displays was a poster on Constitution Fast Facts, a table on current Constitutional issues, and two laptops with an interactive Constitution and a Constitution timeline.

The star of the displays was a case with an original copy of the Bill of Rights inside. Normally housed in the Posner archives, the copy on display was donated to the Universityby Henry Posner. It is one of the four remaining original copies of the 12 amendments to the Constitution, from the set of 13 printings sent to the governors of the 13 American colonies. A portable copy of the Constitution was also provided as a complimentary gift. 

The speaker chosen for the festivities was Professor Peter M. Shane. Shane is a professor of law and the director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Law and Policy Studies at Ohio State University. He is also an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon's Heinz School.

"There are really few main icons of importance to our national identity as the Constitution," Shane said about the Constitution's role in American society. "It's the oldest written constitution in existence… [and] has come to represent a set of ideals and fundamental national promises that still inspire us today."

Shane also emphasized the important ideas that were set forth by the framers of the Constitution, continuing by defining the Constitution's function and how it is used by today's government leaders. He contested the idea of a fixed understanding of the Constitution, saying, "I'm not saying that it's a bad idea to think of a Constitution as being fixed; what I'm saying is it's an impossible idea. It's like saying I believe in unicorns. But because it actually sounds like it might be a plausible idea, it's dangerous."

Shane remarked that the Constitution needs to change in order to accomplish the ideals of the original framers. He emphasized the need for an "adaptive and expanding Constitution," rather than a living Constitution or a fixed Constitution, in hopes of keeping the operational meaning of the Constitution intact. Shane explained some examples of how to adapt the Constitution to the modern information age, and mentioned situations where the other interpretations of the Constitution would flounder.

Shaneconcluded his speech by saying, "It therefore behooves us… to ask not how to remain faithful to the dictionaries on the desks of 1787, but how to remain truthful to the ideals and the policies of the people who gave us this precious document. A constitution fixed in its meaning? I'd rather go look at a unicorn."

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