·
Naturalization
ceremony is 2 p.m. Monday, Sept. 17, at Murphy Center
·
Live
reading of the Constitution inside Murphy Center beginning at 12:30 p.m.
·
Rare
naturalization ceremony held outside Nashville for new Middle Tennessee
citizens
·
Two
MTSU students will be among the 300 people taking the oath of citizenship
FOR
RELEASE: Sept.
14, 2012
EDITORIAL
CONTACTS: Dr.
Mary A. Evins, 615-904-8241, mary.evins@mtsu.edu or Gina E. Fann,
615-898-5385 or gina.fann@mtsu.edu
MURFREESBORO — MTSU will
celebrate Constitution Day on Monday, Sept. 17, by hosting a rare naturalization
ceremony held outside Nashville for new Middle Tennessee citizens — and two
MTSU students will be among the 300 people taking the oath of citizenship.
The
university celebrates the document’s 1787 signing every year with special
events and programs, including printing portions of the Constitution’s first 10
amendments — the Bill of Rights — on MTSU’s replica 18th-century Franklin-era
printing press at Walker Library. The 2012 celebration, however, is even more
special, in commemoration of the 225th anniversary of the Constitution’s
signing.
“Constitution Day has grown exponentially
on our campus since MTSU began celebrating it in 2005, following the 2004
Congressional legislation that established it,” said Dr. Mary A. Evins, an
associate professor of history and coordinator of MTSU's American Democracy
Project. “We use the day to draw students’ and the community’s attention to the
Constitution and citizenship. The day is focused on civic learning.
“We have aspired for years to bring
a naturalization ceremony to our university, and we are so honored that the
U.S. District Court graciously agreed to allow MTSU to be the site of this
large combined ceremony.”
The Sept. 17 ceremony
formally begins at 2 p.m. inside MTSU’s Murphy Center, where the U.S. District
Court, Middle District of Tennessee, will be called into session. Magistrate
Judge Joe B. Brown will preside over the court session.
Chief Justice Gary R. Wade
of the Tennessee Supreme Court will present a keynote address. The U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Service will then administer the new citizens’ oaths
of national allegiance.
Each
of the new citizens will receive a voter registration form from the Rutherford
County Election Commission, a personal copy of the U.S. Constitution from the
National Society of the Colonial Dames of America and an American flag from
representatives of two local chapters of the National Society Daughters of the
American Revolution.
The
two MTSU students who will become citizens are Tammy
Li, a freshman nutrition and food-science major from Smithville, Tenn., and
Mayank N. Patel, a senior from Knoxville majoring in genetics and biotechnology.
MTSU’s Constitution Day
celebration includes readings of the document by students, faculty, staff and
other volunteers across campus throughout the morning of Sept. 17. The civic
learning programs will culminate in a final live reading of the Constitution
inside Murphy Center beginning at 12:30 p.m., which will be streamed live
online at http://itsc3.fsa.mtsu.edu/itsc/flash.
The 2 p.m. naturalization
ceremony also will be streamed online in its entirety at http://itsc3.fsa.mtsu.edu/itsc/flash, thanks to special permission
from the USCIS, a division of the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security.
“We hope that the simulcast will be
accessed broadly on Sept. 17,” Evins said. “We are providing the online feed so
that not only can the new citizens’ families across the globe have the pleasure
of seeing their family members become Americans but also so that we can
showcase how the United States proudly builds its citizenry from every
nationality, ethnicity, creed and language group from around the world, as we
have done since settlers began making our shores their home in the 1600s.
“We also hope that school children
and community members who cannot attend the ceremony in person will be able to
watch online,” the professor continued. “MTSU is providing the webcast as an
open-access educational tool.”
Seating
for the ceremony will begin at 12:30 p.m. Sept. 17. Families, friends and other
members of the public should enter Murphy Center through the upper-concourse
north doors — facing the tennis courts and Greenland Drive — and choose seats
in the stadium-seating levels of the building. Only the new citizens, special
guests and event officials will be allowed on the Hale Arena floor.
A
portion of the Greenland Drive parking lot will be reserved for those attending
the ceremony.
Foreign
citizens or nationals are granted U.S. citizenship after they meet the
requirements of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Prospective citizens may apply for naturalization if they
have lived permanently in the United States for at least five years and meet
all other eligibility requirements, including being at least 18 years old, a
green-card holder who's able to read, write and speak English and understand
U.S. history and civics, and "a person of good moral character, attached
to the principles of the Constitution …."
Similar requirements are outlined
for spouses and children of U.S. citizens and people with qualifying service in
the U.S. military.
Each year, USCIS welcomes approximately 680,000 citizens
during naturalization ceremonies across the United States and around the world.
Tennessee’s ceremonies traditionally are held in the federal
courthouse in one of the state’s three grand divisions, but the number of applicants for U.S.
citizenship has increased so much in recent years that ceremonies are sometimes
conducted on university campuses and other public sites. Middle Tennessee
citizens usually are naturalized at the U.S. District Court for the Middle
District, housed in the Estes Kefauver Federal Building in downtown Nashville.
“MTSU sincerely thanks the U.S.
District Court for the many efforts required in moving its court proceedings to
Murfreesboro for the day,” Evins said. “We ask that our students, faculty,
neighbors and friends turn out in large numbers to celebrate Constitution Day
with us, observe personally this uniquely American process, welcome warmly our
new fellow citizens and grow in pride and respect for the core value of American
diversity.”
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