{"id":2802,"date":"2026-10-08T10:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T17:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theredlandsbulldog.com\/?p=2802"},"modified":"2026-10-08T10:55:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T17:55:10","slug":"engaging-in-civic-understanding-annual-constitution-day-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theredlandsbulldog.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/08\/engaging-in-civic-understanding-annual-constitution-day-returns\/","title":{"rendered":"Engaging in Civic Understanding: Annual Constitution Day Returns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Redlands political science professor Renee Van Vechten presents opening remarks at the 2026 University of Redlands Constitution Day. The podium was then open for members of the campus community to read portions of the Constitution. Photo by Kae Yeoh.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The 2026 University of Redlands Constitution Day took place at noon on Sept. 17\u00a0in front of the Armacost Library, in a collaborative effort between the Redlands Student Government (RSG) and Student Affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This event invites students to publicly read portions of the Constitution. It is a place for those interested in understanding their rights or the importance of civic duties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow can you defend what you don’t know about? The Constitution belongs to every one of us. I hope every person who reads or hears the words spoken aloud will take them to heart and learn more, deliberate more, and question more,\u201d political science professor Renee Van Vechten said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From left to right: Assistant Dean of Leadership and Engagement Programs Heaven Rivera, Dean of Student Campus Life Alfredo Barcenas, and RSG President Adelaide Hubble \u201827. They staffed a booth in the Hunsaker Plaza with stickers, pocket-sized copies of the Constitution, and for those who attended the opening speech, a free T-shirt. The table also had information about the Ballot Bowl competition and the Sept. 22 town hall. Photo by Kae Yeoh.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a fun event encouraging civic engagement across campus,\u201d RSG president Adelaide Hubble \u201827 said. \u201cAnd this year, we\u2019re also competing in the ballot vote, so we\u2019re encouraging students to register to vote and fill out their plans to vote.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of the push is tied to the Engage the Vote competition that the University of Redlands won this past spring, which encourages interest among college students for the upcoming election. It is run by the California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber\u2019s office. The competition ran for 10 weeks and is part of the Student Vote Project<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The University of Redlands is currently participating in the second round of the Student Vote Project competitions with both the California University and College Ballot Bowl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMake your vote count by just doing it. Make it a habit that sends the message that voting matters to you and your voice is equally valid as every other voter’s,\u201d Van Vechten told students. \u201c…And beat Stanford in the Ballot Bowl by registering, and get your friends, roommates, teammates, and family to register, and then vote, too!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Constitution Day event was originally created by professor Art Svenson, who was joined by Van Vechten more than a decade ago in running the event. The current iteration of the event involves participation from the university administration, along with Van Vechten\u2019s American Politics class.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2026 University of Redlands Constitution Day took place at noon on Sept. 17\u00a0in front of the Armacost<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[23,333],"class_list":["post-2802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-constitution-day","tag-rsg"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theredlandsbulldog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theredlandsbulldog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theredlandsbulldog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theredlandsbulldog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theredlandsbulldog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2802"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theredlandsbulldog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2806,"href":"https:\/\/theredlandsbulldog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2802\/revisions\/2806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theredlandsbulldog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theredlandsbulldog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theredlandsbulldog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}