Hillsdale College Hosts Opening of Constitutional Center in Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Hillsdale College announces the opening of the Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship, in Washington, D.C.  Located on Capitol Hill, the 16,000-square-foot historic building is the new home of the Kirby Center, which teaches the principles and practice of the American Constitution in the nation's capital, and around the country.    

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The grand opening on Friday, December 3, included an evening lecture by Hillsdale College President Dr. Larry P. Arnn on the topic, "A Constitutional Platform for America," followed by an open house attended by some 300 people.  Earlier in the day, constitutional scholar Dr. Hadley Arkes delivered a lecture on the topic, "The Limits of Limited Government: Moral Reasoning and the Constitution."    

An extension of the College's nearly 170-year-old teaching mission, the Kirby Center was launched by the College in 2008 and until this week operated out of temporary quarters in Washington.  Its renovated building, which dates to 1892, is located just a few minutes' walk from the Supreme Court building, Senate office buildings, and Union Station.  

The Kirby Center sponsors programs for undergraduate education including the Washington-Hillsdale Internship Program and the George Washington Fellowship Program.  It also sponsors the James Madison Fellows Program for senior-level congressional staff members who are devoted to a constitutional framework for public policy formation, and an extensive national civic outreach program that includes the monthly "First Principles on First Fridays" lecture series, regular Constitution Town Halls, and the annual Constitution Day Colloquium.  In early 2011 the Center will publish The U.S. Constitution: A Reader, a collection of more than 100 primary source documents relating to the American founding, the Civil War, Progressivism, and American government today.

Unlike nearly every other college or university in the country, Hillsdale College operates independently of both federal and state taxpayer support, including indirect aid in the form of student grants and loans.

Hillsdale College was founded in 1844 and has built a national reputation through its maintenance of a classical core curriculum and its principled refusal to accept any federal or state taxpayer subsidies. It also conducts a large outreach effort that promotes civil and religious liberty, including a monthly speech digest, Imprimis, with a current circulation of 1.8 million.

SOURCE Hillsdale College

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