Honors Council Lecture Examines Search for Balance in U.S. Constitution

Portrait of executive financial director standing at office while looking at camera and smiling.

Portrait of executive financial director standing at office while looking at camera and smiling.

Dr. Michael Anderson, Bemidji State University’s provost and vice president for academic and student affairs, will examine the ongoing search for balance in interpretations of the U.S. Constitution to continue BSU’s spring Honors Council Lecture Series.

Anderson’s presentation will begin at 7 p.m. on March 7 in the Gathering Place of BSU’s American Indian Resource Center. All Honors Council lectures are open to everyone free of charge.

BSU’s Honors Council Lecture Series provides a forum for faculty to share their expertise and the results of their research with the Bemidji community.

Anderson has been involved in teaching the Constitution since his time as a high school social studies teacher at Lincoln East High School in Lincoln, Neb. After attending a month-long seminar on the Constitution at UCLA’s Center for Civic Education, he became involved in the program, “We the People,” an annual national constitutional competition for high school students that he will judge for the 16th time in April.

Anderson said the search for balance in Constitutional interpretation requires that people be open to opposing viewpoints and be willing to engage in conversations about those viewpoints.

“There are some things missing in the American system right now that we need to recapture – and that’s the notion of civil discourse,” Anderson said. “It seems that we are in a time where if you don’t agree with me politically, that makes you a lesser person or a lesser citizen — and that’s just plain wrong.

“We should have civil discourse about it and we should listen to each other – even if we disagree,” he said. “Especially at a university — this is the academy. Ideas are supposed to clash and you’re supposed to make a case for your point of view.”

About Dr. Michael Anderson

Dr. Michael Anderson has been Bemidji State’s interim provost and vice president for academic and student affairs since July 2016. Previously, he served four years as vice president for academic affairs at Wayne State College in Wayne, Neb.

Before joining the administration at Wayne State, Anderson was dean of education and counseling at New Mexico Highlands University; director of the School of Education and Counseling at the University of Wisconsin Platteville; director of education and kinesiology at what is now Clarke University; an instructional consultant at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln; and an assistant professor of education at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. Before beginning his career in higher education, Anderson was a public school teacher and coach at Lincoln East High School in Lincoln, Neb.

Anderson earned his bachelor’s, masters and doctoral degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Spring Honors Council Lecture Series

March 7 – 7 p.m. – American Indian Resource Center Gathering Room – Dr. Michael Anderson, interim provost and vice president for academic and student affairs, “The United States Constitution: An Ongoing Search for Balance.”

March 23 – 7 p.m. – American Indian Resource Center Gathering Room – Lori Peterson, civil rights attorney, keynote address for Honors Council Lecture Series and BSU gender studies/womens studies program gender conference.

April 4 – 7 p.m. – Hagg-Sauer 107 – Dr. John Ellis, assistant professor of history, “The Holy ‘Knock-em-Down’: Methodism Remodels for the Ohio Valley’s Backwoods, 1790s-1820s.”

April 26 – 7 p.m. – Hagg-Sauer 107 – Dr. Jeanine McDermott, assistant professor of nursing; Dr. Carolyn Townsend, associate professor of nursing; and Dr. Sarah Tarutis, associate professor of nursing, “Building Community: Impacts on Students’ Educational Experiences.”

BSU Honors Council

The Honors Council Lecture Series is hosted by the Bemidji State University Honors Council, the advisory group to BSU’s honors program composed of 12 faculty members representing each of the university’s colleges. Student representatives are also elected to the council by their cohorts for one-year terms.

Calendar

March 7 –– “The United States Constitution: An Ongoing Search for Balance,” a Bemidji State University Honors Council Lecture presented by Dr. Michael Anderson, interim provost and vice president for academic and student affairs. 7 p.m.; Gathering Room, American Indian Resource Center, BSU campus. Admission: free. Information: Jennifer Baumann, BSU honors program; (218) 755-3984, jbaumann@bemidjistate.edu.

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Bemidji State University, located in northern Minnesota’s lake district, occupies a wooded campus along the shore of Lake Bemidji. A member of the colleges and universities of Minnesota State, Bemidji State offers more than 80 undergraduate majors and 11 graduate degrees encompassing arts, sciences and select professional programs. Bemidji State has an enrollment of more than 5,100 students and a faculty and staff of more than 550. University signature themes include environmental stewardship, civic engagement and global and multi-cultural understanding.


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