American Democracy Project South
Campus Wide Award Nomination
Western Kentucky University
Submitted by Saundra Curry Ardrey
October 13, 2006
Abstract
Western Kentucky University’s work in the American Democracy Project (ADP)
underscores the need for all Americans to understand the Constitution as a bulwark of our
democracy. The federal mandate to celebrate Constitution Day is an opportunity to
further the goals of the ADP and support the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) for
leadership development, engaging students for success in a global society, service
learning and cultural enhancement.
The entire campus community was energized with activities that took place during
September 18- 22, 2006. This year’s national theme was “Honoring the
Men and Women of the Armed Services”. The federal mandate calls for just “a day of
celebration”. Western Kentucky University celebrates for an entire week. The
Department of Political Science took the lead in coordinating activities for the University.
Last year, we missed our goal of having every college in the University sponsor at least
one activity that would explore constitutional issues relevant to their discipline. But what
a difference a year makes. All colleges sponsored lectures, exhibits, games, debates and
more. University participants included administrators, faculty/staff, students and student
organizations. Activities attracted enthusiastic support from the community, local/state
elected officials, students from three area high schools and plenty of media coverage.
Over 1300 students, faculty, administrators and community people participated in
Constitution Week events.
The intended outcome was to increase student awareness of the Constitution as a
document that affects their daily lives as well as understanding the basic principles
inherent in the Constitution.
1. Top-level involvement, commitment, support
The Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Barbara Burch, initiated this effort
and has financially supported the project with an internal grant of $5,820 this year and
$5,200 last year. (See Provost Initiative for Excellence Proposal).
Provost also provided funding through the American Democracy Project for seven
Constitution Week committee members to attend the ADP Conference in
Snowbird, Utah. Financial commitment @$7,000.
Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dawn Bolton, insisted that at least one
session of the University’s opening faculty development September conference,
“Engaging the Spirit”, focus on Constitution Week (CW). The workshop provided
information on how a CW activity could fulfill the university requirement that each
department sponsor Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) activities. It also was an
opportunity for departments to explore ideas for activities relevant to their discipline.
University president, Gary Ransdell, agreed to participate in the Opening Ceremonies of
CW. He was to join General Colin Powell in a national recitation of the Preamble to the
Constitution. At the last minute Ransdell was called away to a legislative session on the
University’s budget and could not participate. Bowling Green mayor Elaine Walker
stepped in to lead the University and community in the reading.
College deans and department heads encouraged faculty to develop activities for the
week. When the associate dean from the College of Health and Human Resources
realized that her College was not represented on the CW planning committee, she
“persuaded” several faculty to join. This “dean’s level” commitment resulted in every
college in the University sponsoring at least one event during the week. (See List of
Activities).
2. Well coordinated efforts of a number of individuals or groups
CW serviced over 1300 students, faculty/staff and community people.
The week of activities would not have been possible without the efforts of many hands
and volunteers. The committee of 19 faculty, staff and students included a representative
from every college, student affairs, SGA and student organizations.
Saundra Ardrey (Political Science), CW chair
Student representatives
Andy Vandiver (Sigma Nu)
Rob Watkins (SGA president)
Catie Stroud (Government and Politics Society – GAPS)
Nathan Phelps (Univ. Experience)
Molly Kerby (Women’s Studies)
Jack Montgomery (University Libraries)
John Moore (Curriculum and Instruction)
Charles Borders (Community College)
Jonathan Smithson (WKU ROTC)
Jeff Kash (Political Science)
Gary Villerial (Social Work)
Deanna Hanson (Nursing)
Beverly Siegrist (Nursing)
Mimi Sodhi (Social Work)
Bill Davis (Economics)
Phillip Lienesch (Biology)
Sally Kuhlenschmidt (FaCet)
Jeff Jensen (Art)
Kellie Scofield (Residence Life)
Seven members of the Committee attended the ADP Snowbird, Utah Convention in June. We presented
our experiences of the 2005 CW and with the feedback we received began initial planning of 2006 CW
activities. Once we returned to campus, the committee began to actively recruit faculty from their
departments and colleges to not only sponsor an activity but to also imbed a “Constitution” right or element
in one of their courses. (See the August 10 agenda as an indication of the many hands that worked to make
this week happen).
3. Demonstration of resolve to overcome obstacles
We never talk about obstacles – just challenges that present opportunities that allow us to
meet our goal of bringing to the campus a greater understanding of the Constitution.
Challenge One: faculty “buy-in”
- faculty apathy and disconnect
- belief among some faculty that teaching students to be model citizens in a
democracy is outside the scope of their discipline
Opportunity to meet challenge:
Faculty expectations and requirements are increasing. Not only must they teach,
conduct research and provide service but faculty are also asked to engage students, to
encourage social responsibility, to develop leadership, to produce graduates who
understand and are committed to engaging in meaningful actions as citizens in a
democracy. With CW coming at the very beginning of the semester, we realize that it can
be overwhelming. So in order to minimize the cost and maximize the benefit, the CW
committee conducted (as previously mentioned) a workshop at the “Engaging the Spirit”
Conference that assisted departments in crafting a CW activity that would meet a QEP
objective (engaging students for success in a global society, leadership development,
service learning, or cultural enhancement). Twenty faculty from eighteen different
departments exchanged ideas, developed student learning objectives and activities to
meet those objectives and drafted plans to access outcomes. Six of the departments
attending the meeting eventually sponsored an event with several more promising to
participate next year.
The major achievement was that we were able to get some key faculty to ‘buy into’ the
notion that CW/civic engagement was relevant for their discipline.
Challenge Two: With all of the activities scheduled in any given week, especially at the
beginning of the school year, how do you keep CW events at the
forefront?
Opportunity to meet challenge:
Of course we ran ads in the student newspaper, sent out press releases, did
television interviews, posted flyers, etc. etc. But this year we came up with an ingenious
plan. Each morning of CW, we posted a brightly colored and animated email to all
faculty/staff announcing that day’s event. To further engage faculty, the email started
with a Constitutional trivia question. Little did we know that feature would be so
popular. Faculty looked forward to the emails – at least to the trivia question. How do I
know that? Wednesday morning I was late in posting the email; around mid-morning my
office started to receive phone calls asking about the trivia question for the day. And as I
went about campus that week and the weeks following, faculty were still debating
nuances of our democracy. (See Faculty email sample).
Challenge Three: Student “buy-in”
- Student apathy and disconnect
Opportunity to meet challenge:
“Catch them while they’re still young.” That’s the motto. Our emphasis this year
was to target incoming students and introduce them to the idea of civic engagement early
in their academic career. Every first year student that attended Freshman Convocation
received a flashdrive with the Constitution downloaded onto it. (Special thanks to the
New York Times for support of this effort). Every section of University Experience had
imbedded in the syllabus a section on civic engagement and social responsibility. This
allowed individual instructors to discuss contemporary issues and policy outcomes and to
relate them to constitutional principles. University Experience students were also
encouraged to attend CW events with most instructors offering participation points.
We added more interactive activities to engage this MTV generation. Activities such as a
an “Express Yourself” easel for student opinions, a climbing wall, an obstacle course, a
scavenger hunt and rock bands were included this year to entice students to take part in
CW activities. We sponsored a scavenger hunt and Constitution quiz bowl challenge for
student organizations and awarded prizes and huge three feet trophies to winners and
runner-ups. Efforts worked. Students seemed more engaged and excited; really
appreciated the free food and the rock band at Rock the Vote.
4. Opportunities for student leadership
One of the QEP objectives is student leadership development. The goal is to develop
skills (organization, oral/written communication, persuasion, etc.) needed in any
leadership position. Students organized several activities specifically car art, the military
appreciation fundraiser, and the scavenger hunt. Their involvement with these activities
ranged from topic selection, making contacts in the community, coordinating schedules,
recruiting participants, to securing adequate facilities and advertising.
Sixteen students majoring in teacher education/social studies took the lead in the High
School Symposium. High school students from Bowling Green City Schools and Warren
County Schools could select from sixteen workshops on diverse issues such as moral and
ethical dilemmas of war, homeland security v. civil rights, tolerance of “others” and
protecting the Mammoth Cave ecosystem. These workshops provided a service to high
school students while allowing WKU students to “practice” teach a lesson on
contemporary events and the Constitution.
5. Significant social, moral, or economic impact of project(s)
We hope that the long term impact of our week of highlighting a basic and key document
will bring about an understanding of that document and of individual rights which will
lead to a greater awareness of civic responsibility and obligations thereby securing the
stability of our democracy.
6. Significance of original mission
The original mission was to meet the federal mandate to celebrate the Constitution but we
used this mandate to also help us meet objectives of the American Democracy Project
AND the University’s QEP.
7. Extent to which outcomes achieved or superseded goals
The goal of the American Democracy Project is to produce graduates who understand
and are committed to engaging in meaningful actions as citizens in a democracy. An
understanding of the basic rights, obligations and responsibilities of citizenship in a
democracy is essential. The more students we “educate” the better so attendance at events
is important. The official count of students and community folk who attended our events
is 1384. That fantastic number does not include the number of students in University
Experience, the people who saw the car art or people who wrote their opinions on the
“Express Yourself” boards.
Another goal was to include an activity from every college on campus. We achieved that
goal this year.
Campus enthusiasm and faculty “buy-in” seems to be growing as evidenced by the
increased number of faculty who attended the CW workshop during the “Engaging the
Spirit” Conference.
High school students overwhelmingly enjoyed and benefited from the symposium and the
opening ceremony. (See High School Assessment).
8. Originality/creativity of the project (See attached powerpoint)
Opening Ceremony
Bowling Green Mayor Elaine Walker led the community in recitation of the
Preamble to the Constitution.
Roll Call of States
Bristow Elementary School choir performed “Fifty Nifty United States” in red,
white and blue costumes.
Car Art
Psychology professor Patty Randolph “loaned” her Ford LTD to art students to
create images that ranged from gay marriage, reproductive freedom,
and women’s rights to the price of oil, Latino power and censorship.
The spectacle of Patty driving around town in this brightly painted car
with words and images designed to provoke emotion is something not often seen
in the conservative town of Bowling Green. Needless to say, much debate
swirled around this “car art”.
“Express Yourself”
Three white boards were strategically placed around campus inviting students to
express their opinion. There were no guidelines or prohibitions. The boards
generated hundreds of comments getting completely covered in just two days. But
the controversy lingered for weeks.
Student Scavenger Hunt
Student teams had one hour to find items related to the Constitution. The first
team to find all items was declared the winner. This was an opportunity to expose
students to university history and folklore while searching for the hidden items.
Students were competing for huge trophies and bragging rights of winning the
first Constitution scavenger hunt. It’s amazing but the trophies were a big hit. We
managed to tap into the competitive spirit of student organizations, especially the
desire to win a trophy to display in the “front room of the frat house”. This will
definitely be a recurring event for CW. The scavenger hunt was a fundraiser in
support of men and women in the armed services. Presentation of the check for
$350 to the Family Readiness Group will be Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11 at the WKU
football game. The Hunt was sponsored by Sigma Nu, GAPS and the Department
of Political Science.
Army Special Events team display of military equipment.
In recognition of the men and women who serve in the military, WKU ROTC
set up an obstacle course and a climbing wall on the South Lawn of campus.
Hundreds of students stopped by the display to learn more about this arm of the
government charged with protecting the rights guaranteed in the Constitution.
While collecting information they had fun racing each other through the obstacle
course.
Why do we deserve this award?
The entire Western Kentucky University campus mobilized to deliver to our students an
understanding of the Constitution and individual rights which we believe leads to a
greater awareness of civic responsibility and obligations thereby securing the stability of
our democracy.
Appendices:
PIE Award
List of Activities with Attendance
Sample Agenda
Sample Faculty email
High School Assessment
Power Point presentation