Penn enters partnership with National Constitution Center

Mayor Rendell announced plans for the new Center on Independence Mall which will break ground in the year 2000. Moving the proposed National Constitution Center from a mere concept to a tangible project, Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell unveiled detailed plans for the Center and announced its academic partnership with the University during a City Hall news conference last Thursday. The center -- which will be built on Independence Mall between 5th and 6th streets and Race and Arch streets -- is scheduled to break ground on Constitution Day, September 17, in the year 2000, and will cost an estimated $123 million. Flanked by University President Judith Rodin, Rendell explained that the University has entered in to an academic partnership with the NCC. In this capacity, the University will serve as a link between the NCC and scholars of the Constitution from around the world, organize conferences, symposia and radio programming on constitutional issues and develop a state-of-the-art website which will serve as a "virtual center" for the NCC. "This academic partnership is incredibly important to the growth of the NCC," Rendell said. "Beyond emphasizing Philadelphia as the historical home of the Constitution, it establishes Philadelphia as the home for contemporary Constitutional discussions and ideas," Rendell said. Rodin explained that the University's commitment to the National Constitution Center has grown out of the Agenda for Excellence, which "commits the University to an expansion of research and teaching programs concerning democratic and legal institutions in America and around the world." "This new focus will involve several different schools at Penn and should lead to the recruitment of distinguished new faculty whose work focuses on issues of constitutionalism and and democracy," she said. She added that the University will "create some exciting new interdisciplinary programs for undergraduate students" and "nurture a number of related initiatives already underway, such as a new, student-edited constitutional law journal." As part of the University's connection to the Center, History Professor Richard Beeman -- an American Revolution scholar -- will serve as its first visiting fellow, and Graduate School of Fine Arts dean Gary Hack will act as senior consultant for design and site-planning. "Drs.. Beeman and Hack are simply the best and the brightest in their fields," Rendell said. "Having them as part of the NCC team is tremendously exciting -- they exemplify the combination of academic distinction and practical experience that characterizes the type of individual we intend to attract to the Center." Rendell also presented an 8-minute video entitled Imagine a Place -- narrated by actor James Earl Jones, former President George Bush, and newscaster Andrea Mitchell -- which portrays the visitor experience at the planned Constitution Center museum. He said the video will be shown to government, business and foundation leaders -- including President Bill Clinton -- to launch a national fundraising campaign. "As the video shows, the Constitution Center will be unlike any other museum experience," NCC President Joseph Torsella said. "Visitors will leave the Center with a profound sense of the integral role the Constitution played in their history and the role it continues to play in their everyday lives." Visitors will receive cards designating them delegates to the Constitutional Convention and the tour will begin in eighteenth-century Philadelphia, evoking the sights and sounds of the conflicts that forged the nation. The museum will include interactive exhibits and simulations which will allow visitors to explore the Constitution as both the framework for government and the protector of individual rights. The narrator explains that "as we learn about the Civil War, we notice a crack in the floor widening -- until it forces us, as the war forced Americans, to chose which story to follow, the Blue or the Gray." "We walk through the aisle of a crowded bus in the 1950s, seeing Montgomery, Ala. through the windows," the narrator continues. "We hear the soft voice of Rosa Parks start the Civil Rights Movement with a single word: no." Visitors will also examine and vote on current Constitutional issues -- such as the balanced-budget amendment. As the tour concludes, they will "sign" the Constitution with a laser pen and receive a parchment replica of the document with their signature among those of the founding fathers. "We have no illusions that this will be easy," Rendell said. "But this will be a museum of immense importance."

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