Sept. 20, 2017: Public debate on the rights and limits of corporations in the U.S.
by Michelle Saport |
The Center for Advancing Faculty Excellence, Difficult Dialogues Initiative and Seawolf Debate Program, in honor of Constitution Day, invite you to a public debate, faculty forum and discussion:
"Corporations are not people." Wednesday, Sept. 20, 7-9 p.m. UAA/APU Consortium Library, Room 307
Free of charge and open to the public. Featuring the award-winning UAA Seawolf Debate Program, a faculty response panel and a facilitated public discussion.
In 2010, the "Citizens United" Supreme Court ruling granted corporations the right to make unlimited contributions to a political campaign, based on the premise that they have the free speech rights of individuals. In 2017, a resolution (HJR48) was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives calling for a Constitutional Amendment that recognizes that "the rights protected by the Constitution of the U.S. are the rights of natural persons only. Artificial entities, such as corporations, limited liability companies, and other entities...shall have no rights under this Constitution and are subject to regulation by the People... The privileges of artificial entities shall be determined by the People, through Federal, State, or local law, and shall not be construed to be inherent or inalienable."It further states that: "Federal, State and local government shall regulate, limit, or prohibit contributions and expenditures...to ensure that all citizens, regardless of their economic status, have access to the political process, and that no person gains, as a result of that person's money, substantially more access or ability to influence in any way the election of any candidate for public office or any ballot measure...The judiciary shall not construe the spending of money to influence elections to be speech under the First Amendment."
Please join us as we wrestle with the question of the rights and limits of corporations in the U.S.
This event is part of a series hosted by UAA's Center for Advancing Faculty Excellence since 2003 to offer the Anchorage community access to university resources as a basis for discussions of issues affecting our future.
For information, contact Libby Roderick at eroderick@alaska.edu or (907) 786-4605.
"Sept. 20, 2017: Public debate on the rights and limits of corporations in the U.S." is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.