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BY ROBERT MORAN
Daily Titan Staff Writer
[email protected]
As part of Cal State Fullertons two-day Constitution Day
festivities, a three-member
panel comprised of Communications Dean Rick Pullen, Professor of
Political Science
Scott Spitzer, and Professor of Criminal Justice Max Dery.
The discussion was held in the Quad, dubbed Contemporary
Challenges under the
U.S. Constitution.
The trio of panelists discussed the effects that the war on
terror has had on the home
front. Spitzer was the first to speak, highlighting the fact
that the modern presidency
has become the centerpiece of the national government since
Franklin Delano
Roosevelt served in the oval office.
The expansion has risen in stark contrast to the system of
checks and balances put in
place by the Founding Fathers.
Presidents always expand their powers during wartime, Spitzer
said.
According to Spitzer, the power of the presidency has become
unfettered andunchecked under the Bush Administration.
According to Spitzer, the Bush Administration has adopted a
policy that focuses on
Article II of the Constitution.
This view basically says the President can do and must do
whatever he and his
advisers believe is necessary in order to protect American
security, Spitzer said.
Even if that means violating Congressional laws like FISA, or
the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act.
Spitzer added that the view allowed the president to subvert
international laws such
as the Geneva Conventions and to suspend individual rights such
as the right to due
process to terrorism suspects.
Mind you, Spitzer said pausing to glance at the audience, I said
suspects, not
convicts.
Dery said the way people view their expectations of privacy
influences their view of
their constitutional rights, something students arent always
fully aware of.
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I dont think if you push people to say, do you really care about
your Constitution? I
think most of our students would say that they do, Spitzer
said.
Pullen, is in his 33 years of teaching, is familiar with the
attitudes of students at CSUF.
They are here to simply go through the motions, get their
diploma and go out into
the workforce, Pullen said. Nobody is really seeking out the
information so that they
can become better scholars.
Only twenty students attended the discussion of contemporary
challenges to the U.S.
Constitution. Spitzer said the event was not publicized as well
as he would have liked,
but like Pullen, he acknowledged that students are extremely
busy. They are running
from class to class, and in between they are trying to grab
lunch. Their priorities may
or may not necessarily to attend an academic forum on the
Constitution, Spitzer
said.
The forum, which was held in the quad, was partially concealed
by a large canopy and
the tables being setup for the CSUFs upcoming career fair.
Pullen, the chair-elect of the California First Amendment
Coalition, stressed the
importance of protecting constitutional rights and knowing what
they are.
This is not a Republican or a conservative or a liberal position
its all about
protecting democracy, Pullen said.
