Rewriting the New York State Constitution

By 
Dr. Peter J. Galie


Dr. Peter Galie’s project provides students the opportunity to engage in and learn from a comprehensive three year program whose purpose is to analyze the New York State Constitution and propose ideas for change.  The process will begin with a three credit course that establishes an overview of the New York State Constitution through a comparative study of state and national constitutions.  Outside speakers, including current members of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of state and local government, as well as noted scholars, will contribute to the course and will provide a forum for public information and discussion.

Divided into committees, each devoted to an article of the constitution, the students will travel to Albany to visit archives and to experience the workings of government first hand.  They will develop and continue to update a website which will provide public access to their on-going work.   In the spring semester, students will be able to enroll in a three credit independent study course and form a constitutional commission that will focus on Articles of the Constitution.  Since the focus will change each year, students will be offered the unique opportunity to participate at a number of levels and, at the conclusion of the three years, to travel to Albany to present their work before relevant committees of the Legislature.   In addition to developing the research skills of those who participate, the project will increase the participants’ ability to work as members of a team, to communicate their ideas and to engage in a dialogue with expert speakers and with legislators.

As a service to students at Canisius College, elementary and secondary school teachers, scholars, and local and state decision makers, the three year project will lay the ground work to establish a Center for the Study of the New York Constitution at Canisius College, a repository of the resources needed to undertake careful study of our state constitution and our constitutional tradition.