George Read Hall ribbon-cutting ceremony set Sept. 17

John Trumbull’s painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, courtesy of the Architect of the Capitol

12:49 p.m., Sept. 13, 2005--Constitution Day, a day to be observed each Sept. 17 in honor of the ratification of the United States Constitution in 1787, is set to be marked at 10 a.m., Saturday, at George Read Hall, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony to commemorate the residence hall's opening last month.

Remarks by Jonathan Russ, UD assistant professor of history, will focus on the building's namesake, George Read, one of the Delawareans who signed both the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. He was a student of the Rev. Francis Alison, founder of the institution that is now the University of Delaware.

The morning ceremony, which will include remarks from UD President David P. Roselle, will offer participants the opportunity to reflect on the importance of the Constitution and the struggles that brought it into being. All members of the University community are invited to attend.

This detail from Trumbull’s painting shows (from left) George Read of Delaware, John Dickinson of both Delaware and Pennsylvania and Edward Rutledge of South Carolina.

Read, who was born in North East, Md., on Sept. 18, 1733, became Delaware’s attorney general in 1761 and represented Delaware at the Continental Congress from 1774-76. He was a member of Delaware’s Constitutional Convention in 1776 and served as acting governor of Delaware in 1777.

Read also was Delaware’s senator from 1791-92 and its chief justice from 1793 until his death in 1798.

George Read Hall, the University's newest residence hall, can accommodate 500 students. The horseshoe-shaped building features resident rooms with semi-private baths, floor lounges and resident assistant rooms.

Constitution and Citizenship Day was established by Congress last year as a day to be observed each Sept. 17 by all federally funded educational institutions. The University of Delaware chose to schedule the ribbon-cutting for the new George Read Hall on the first observance of Constitution Day.

George Read Hall

Another Constitution Day-related ceremony will be held at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 20, in the lounge of George Read Hall North. The free event will feature games and debates that test participants' knowledge of the Constitution.

The University of Delaware Library also has created a new web page in observance of Constitution Day, which includes many resources for the study of the U.S. Constitution. To visit the site, click here.

Article by Becca Hutchinson
Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson

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