September 11, 2009

William Mitchell and Saint Paul Schools launch partnership to increase constitutional literacy in high schools

William Mitchell students will help high school students bone up on the constitution through a new partnership with Saint Paul Public Schools.

Mitchell is the first law school in Minnesota to participate in the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project. Named after the late U.S. Supreme Court Justices Thurgood Marshall and William Brennan, the Marshall-Brennan Project sends law school students into high schools to teach constitutional rights. Eleven law schools across the country participate in the program, including Rutgers University Law School, University of Oregon Law School, and the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Beginning spring semester, eight William Mitchell students will teach 12th grade government classes at Central Senior High School, Como Park Senior High School, and Avalon School in St. Paul. The Mitchell students also will take an advanced Constitutional Law seminar on relevant constitutional law cases and instructional strategies for high school students with Professor Mary Pat Byrn, Marshall-Brennan Project director. William Mitchell’s Marshall-Brennan participants, second- and third-year law students, will be selected through an application process this fall.

“William Mitchell students have a strong history of serving the community,” said President and Dean Eric Janus. “The Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project gives them an opportunity to extend their service to high school students.”

William Mitchell launched its participation in the Marshall-Brennan Project Sept. 10 with a presentation by Mary Beth Tinker, who made Constitutional law history 40 years ago as a 13-year-old when she violated school policy by wearing a black armband in protest of the Vietnam War. Believing her constitutional rights were violated, she took her case to the U.S. Supreme Court ... and won.

“You don’t have to be a special person to have a chance to make a difference,” said Tinker, a nurse who speaks with students about her story and encourages them use their constitutional rights to effect change locally and nationally. “I tell kids that if you don’t know your rights and use them like muscles, you will lose them.”

Read more about the Marshall-Brennan Project at Mitchell.