Monday September 17th "Constitution Day!" @ MICA

Symposium 5:30pm located in Falvey Hall in the Brown Center (1301 Mount Royal Avenue.) Symposium will feature speakers: Ralph Nader, Helen Thomas, and John Waters!

September 18th, Film "Taxi to the Dark Side," @ Falvey Hall

7:30 pm, students get in free, general public $10.
Film director Alex Gibney hosts the Baltimore premiere of Taxi to the Dark Side on Tuesday, September 18. The film, which won Best Documentary Feature prize at its premiere at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival, examines the death of an Afghan taxi driver at Bagram Air Base from injuries inflicted by U.S. soldiers. In an unflinching look at the Bush administration’s policy on torture, filmmaker Alex Gibney takes us from a village in Afghanistan to Guantanamo Bay and straight to the White House.

Also on View:
Constitution Day Exhibition
Thursday, September 13–Tuesday, September 18
Outside Falvey Hall
Coinciding with Constitution Day on Monday, September 17, this exhibition explores issues of free speech in a democratic society.

Text from the homepage of Constitution Day at MICA follows, or visit: web site|http://www.mica.edu/news/news.cfm?action=detail&press_ID=866:

"Constitution Day

Constitution Day On Monday, September 17, Constitution Day at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) features a symposium of Ralph Nader, political activist; Helen Thomas, former United Press International White House bureau chief; and John Waters, filmmaker. Held in Brown Center’s Falvey Hall (1301 Mount Royal Avenue) at 5:30 p.m., this event continues MICA’s tradition of leadership in raising and exploring important issues surrounding the U.S. Constitution. Free and open to the public, Constitution Day is co-sponsored by MICA and the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland (ACLU-MD), with additional support provided by the Baltimore Bar Foundation, Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse, Cho Benn Holback + Associates, Inc., and Hord Coplan Macht, Inc.

This year’s theme, Free Speech: This is What Democracy Looks Like, examines freedom of the press, freedom of artistic expression, and censorship in its many forms. Emceed by Marc Steiner, host of WYPR’s Marc Steiner Show, Constitution Day also includes an exhibition of art exploring issues of free speech in a democratic society. The exhibit takes place Thursday, September 13–Tuesday, September 18, outside of Falvey Hall.

In conjunction with Constitution Day, two film screenings will take place in Brown Center’s Falvey Hall at 7:30 p.m. On Tuesday, September 11, director Brett Morgan brings the Sundance 2007 opening night film Chicago 10 to MICA. Slated to hit theaters in February 2008, Chicago 10 looks back at the eight anti-war protesters who were put on trial following the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

Additionally, film director Alex Gibney hosts the Baltimore premiere of Taxi to the Dark Side on Tuesday, September 18. The film, which won Best Documentary Feature prize at its premiere at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival, examines the death of an Afghan taxi driver at Bagram Air Base from injuries inflicted by U.S. soldiers. In an unflinching look at the Bush administration’s policy on torture, filmmaker Alex Gibney takes us from a village in Afghanistan to Guantanamo Bay and straight to the White House.

As part of a government statute created in 2004 with the passage of an amendment by Senator Robert Byrd, Constitution Day recognizes the ratification of the United States Constitution and is observed on September 17, the day the United States Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution. This act mandates that all publicly-funded educational institutions provide programming to help students understand the role of the Constitution in the United States.

For more information about MICA, visit www.mica.edu or call 410-225-2300. For more information about the ACLU-MD, visit www.aclu-md.org. "