National Constitution Center Announces Members Of Coalition Of Freedom Advisory Board
The Coalition of Freedom Advisory Board will oversee three-year constitutional initiative made possible by the John Templeton Foundation
Philadelphia
(February 4, 2014) – The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia is pleased to announce the members of its new scholarly Coalition of Freedom Advisory Board, co-chaired by leaders of the Federalist Society and the American Constitution Society. The new board was created to oversee a three-year initiative made possible by a $5.5 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation to increase awareness of the rights set forth in the United States Constitution and other founding documents. The initiative will bring together the best scholars in America to participate in Town Hall constitutional debates across America and to create the best non-partisan Interactive Constitution on the web.
The Coalition of Freedom board is composed of 27 constitutional scholars from across the political spectrum, and it is co-chaired by Lee Otis, Senior Vice President and Faculty Division Director of the Federalist Society, and Caroline Fredrickson, President of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy. It also includes scholarly co-chairs Richard Pildes, Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional Law at New York University School of Law, and Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz, Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center and Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute.
Link: Pildes, Rosenkranz talk about the scholars’ board
The board includes the leading constitutional scholars in America, who come from institutions including Georgetown University, Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, Stanford University, and more. The board will offer guidance and ensure non-partisanship as the National Constitution Center, through the generosity of the Templeton Foundation grant, creates the best Interactive Constitution on the web; holds playwriting, short-story and essay contests for students; schedules on-site and traveling Town Hall debates; and holds a contest that challenges public and independent school teachers to create plans to increase constitutional literacy in their schools. The contest includes prizes of up to $100,000 for the winning schools and $10,000 for the winning students in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania.
In addition to the co-chairs, the Advisory Board members will include:
Akhil Amar, Yale University
Randy Barnett, Georgetown University
Richard Beeman, University of Pennsylvania
James Ceaser, University of Virginia
Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, University of California – Irvine
Michael Dorf, Cornell University
Pamela Edwards, Jack Miller Center
Richard Epstein, New York University
Amanda Frost, American University
Robert George, Princeton University
John Harrison, University of Virginia
Sanford Levinson, University of Texas
Michael McConnell, Stanford University
Anthony Peacock, Utah State University
Dean Robert Post, Yale University
Jack Rakove, Stanford University
Kermit Roosevelt, University of Pennsylvania
Jeffrey Rosen, National Constitution Center
Ilya Shapiro, Cato Institute
Geoffrey Stone, University of Chicago
Alan Tarr, Princeton University
Elizabeth Wydra, Constitutional Accountability Center
Michael Zuckert, University of Notre Dame
“We are honored that this extraordinary group of constitutional scholars has agreed to serve on the Coalition of Freedom Advisory,” said Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center. “In these polarized times, it’s crucial for there to be one place in America where citizens of all perspectives can converge to educate themselves about our constitutional liberties. These ideologically diverse and academically inspiring scholars will help the National Constitution Center become a convening platform for civil constitutional dialogue across America.”
The National Constitution Center is located at 525 Arch Street on Philadelphia’s Independence Mall. The Center is open 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, until 6:00 p.m. on Saturday and from Noon to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. General admission is $14.50 for adults, $13 for seniors, students with ID, and youth (ages 13-18), $8 for children (ages 4-12), and is free for active military. Special winter pricing, which continues through March 31, 2015, is $10. For more information, call 215-409-6700 or visit constitutioncenter.org. On Bill of Rights Day,
December 15, 2014, the National Constitution Center opened Constituting Liberty: From the Declaration to the Bill of Rights, an exhibition featuring one of the 12 surviving copies of the Bill of Rights. The exhibition, which is housed in the Center’s new George H.W. Bush Gallery, will continue through 2017.
About the National Constitution Center
The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia is the Museum of We the People, America’s Town Hall, and a Headquarters for Civic Education. As the Museum of We the People, the National Constitution Center brings the United States Constitution to life for visitors of all ages and inspires active citizenship by celebrating the American constitutional tradition. The museum features interactive exhibitions, engaging theatrical performances, and original documents of freedom. As the only institution established by Congress to “disseminate information about the United States Constitution on a non-partisan basis,” the National Constitution Center serves as a Headquarters for Civic Education—offering cutting-edge learning resources including the premier online interactive Constitution. As America’s Town Hall, the National Constitution Center hosts timely constitutional conversations uniting distinguished leaders, scholars, authors, and journalists from across the political spectrum. For more information, call 215-409-6700 or visit constitutioncenter.org.
About the John Templeton Foundation
The John Templeton Foundation (www.templeton.org) serves as a philanthropic catalyst for discoveries relating to the Big Questions of human purpose and ultimate reality. The Foundation supports research on subjects ranging from complexity, evolution, and infinity to creativity, forgiveness, love, and free will. It encourages civil, informed dialogue among scientists, philosophers, and theologians and between such experts and the public at large, for the purposes of definitional clarity and new insights. The Foundation’s vision is derived from the late Sir John Templeton’s optimism about the possibility of acquiring “new spiritual information” and from his commitment to rigorous scientific research and related scholarship. The Foundation’s motto, “How little we know, how eager to learn,” exemplifies its support for open-minded inquiry and its hope for advancing human progress through breakthrough discoveries.
