Two days after the Constitution turned 225 years old, a renowned scholar will visit Ohio University to expound upon religious freedoms and the First Amendment.
Richard Garnett, associate dean for faculty research and professor of law at the University of Notre Dame Law School, will speak in Scripps Hall Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. about “Religious Freedom and the Constitution.”
Religious freedom as described in the First Amendment of the Constitution is particularly relevant after a recently passed regulation by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, said Robert Ingram, an associate professor of history at OU and founding director of the George Washington Forum.
The policy mandates for free birth control to be included in most employers’ health insurance plans as a part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
“I think (religious freedom) is one of these things that's both timeless and timely,” Garnett said. “I think it is pertinent now in part because in the public square over the last year, there's been a lot of attention paid or controversy about certain laws or proposals that are thought to be in contention with religious freedom.”
Garnett graduated from Yale Law School in 1995 and clerked for late Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
“I like the idea that here’s somebody who has thought about the practical applications of religious freedom in law but has also thought about it theoretically,” Ingram said.
The event will be co-sponsored by the forum and the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost as part of Constitution Week at OU. The majority of the event will be funded and arranged by the forum, with the administration helping to cover some advertising expenses.
“We're going to be helping to defray some of the costs associated with publicity,” said Ann Fidler, chief of staff for the provost and chief financial officer.
The forum, which sponsors various lectures during the academic year, has also increased its undergraduate fellowship from two students to seven. Ingram said the fellowship provides each student with $3,500 and a position working with a faculty member on research for five to six hours per week, among other opportunities.
bv111010@ohiou.edu
