INFORMATION FOR
William Paterson University in Wayne will observe Constitution Day on Thursday, September 15 with a panel discussion exploring the meaning of the U.S. incarceration rates, which are the highest in the world. Topics will include issues of sentencing, prisoner treatment, and the constitution. The event, which is free and open to the public, begins at 11 a.m. in University Commons Ballroom C on campus. Panelists include Alexis Agathocleous, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), Charley Flint, William Paterson professor of sociology, and Balmurli Natrajan, William Paterson professor of anthropology.
Federal legislation signed in December 2004 requires all educational institutions that receive federal funds to implement an educational program on September 17 each year that provides students with increased awareness and appreciation of the U.S. Constitution, which was adopted by the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787.
The program, which will commence with a moment of silence honoring the lives lost on September 11, 2001, is sponsored by the American Democracy Project (ADP) at William Paterson University, part of a nationwide initiative coordinated by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) that seeks to increase civic engagement among American students attending public colleges and universities. This is the seventh annual Constitution Day sponsored by ADP at William Paterson.
Agathocleous is an attorney who works on CCR’s government misconduct and racial justice docket. He is lead counsel in Aref vs. Holder, challenging policies and conditions at the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Communication Management Units, and Doe vs. Jindal, which challenges a Louisiana law that requires individuals convicted of crimes against nature to register as sex offenders.
Flint, a William Paterson faculty member since 1984, teaches classes in criminology, sociology of corrections, gender, crime and society. She is widely published in her field, and serves as an expert on issues related to race and ethnicity, criminal justice and gender. Her current research interests are interracial families, women (especially mothers) in corrections, and assessing community-based corrections as an alternative to incarceration. She serves as research consultant to the Juvenile Drug Team of the Superior Court of Passaic County, Family Division.
Natrajan, a William Paterson faculty member since 2005, teaches classes in anthropology, understanding culture, and globalization and development. He is an expert in group formation, collective action, culture and ideology, globalization, caste, race, Hinduism, and India. He is the co-author of Against Stigma: Studies in Caste, Race and Justice since Durban, a book about discrimination, particularly racism and casteism.
For additional information, contact Christine Kelly, professor of political science and director of the American Democracy Project at William Paterson University, at 973-720-3430.
