The Nevada Sagebrush

In honor of the anniversary of the ratification of the United States Constitution, the student chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honor society at the University of Nevada, Reno, hosted Constitution Day on Thursday.

Students from UNR, Galena High School, Spanish Springs High School and the Davidson Academy responded to a series of questions from two moderators and audience members concerning the Constitution and its role in current events.

Topics including cruel and unusual punishment, health care, affirmative action, the electoral process and more were discussed. The seven-student panel took turns contributing their opinions throughout this discussion, held in the Joe Crowley Student Union.

Students enjoy these discussions because they pertain to their lives and after the opportunity to respond to current events, Christopher Simon, the adviser for Pi Sigma Alpha, said.

Many audience members solicited responses from panel students and those on stage anxiously contributed to the mild debates that followed. Students in the audience cited personal examples and panel students mentioned statistics in order to support and refute points made by others.

This event has been hosted for the past three years as a campus outreach program, Mike Moltz, president of Pi Sigma Alpha, said. It allows the university to become more involved in the community and helps provide the university with necessary federal funds, he said. This year’s discussion was an improvement from last year’s, Moltz said.

Advanced Placement government students from Galena High School were active audience members and older audience members willingly contributed their questions.

Toward the conclusion of the discussion, some of the university students on the panel offered advice directly to the high school students in the audience. They encouraged them to become more active in political activities because the implications of present decisions will be felt in the future.

“(The event gave me) a great deal of hope for the future that young people are interested in creating vibrant communities in our democracy,” Simon said.

Tiana Ross can be reached at news@nevadasagebrush.com.

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