Constitution Cafés

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"Constitution Who? Constitutional issues about Students and Young People". Constitution Café led by Jacquelyn Bowie-Suess, Staff Attorney, ACLU of Indiana, and Warren Watson, Director, J Ideas, Ball State University. At Glendale Library Auditorium, Indianapolis.
Constitution Cafés are at the heart of My Daily Constitution. Cafés are designed to break away from the dynamics of the large lecture hall and the invisible 'wall' of the panel discussion in order to create a space where individuals and communities can become active participants in a dialogue about our democracy. Constitution Cafés are led by discussion leaders, recruited locally, who speak about the issues for a portion of the event. Thereafter the floor is open for questions, sharing comments and experiences, and for listening. Constitution Cafés depart from the prevalent simplification of issues - the dichotomy of left or right, blue or red, pro or con, in favor of complexity, and deeper understanding. 
Past Constitution Cafés include:
  • First Amendment attorney Louis Sirkin and National Coalition Against Censorship’s Svetlana Mintcheva leading  Cincinnati: A Focal Point Of Art Censorship Debates: What Does The First Amendment Protect? 
  • Constitutional law professor Jamie Raskin, leading  One Nation, Under the Constitution: Church, State, Politics, Faith and Reason in the 21st Century.
  • Free speech activist Mary Beth Tinker, of 1969 Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District Supreme Court case, leading  Case Study -  Freedom of Expression in our Public High Schools: The Experience of Anti War Activists, From Vietnam to Iraq. 
  • Indianapolis broadcasting legend Amos Brown and Attorney Roderick Bohannan of Indiana Legal Services leading  The Right to Vote and American Constitutional Democracy.
  • Founder and President of The Prison Reform Advocacy Center Cincinnati Alphonse A. Gerhardstein, leading  The Constitutional Limits On The Police Use Of Force.
  • Criminal justice analyst David Lovell, leading  Justice and the Eighth Amendment; Is Super Max Confinement Cruel and Unusual? 

​For a complete list of issues addressed in past Constitution Cafés, click here.