Let Freedom Ring!

Regime change in America and the importance of the First Amendment provided the focus for two events held on campus in late April.

The Berry College Department of Communication received a $5,000 grant from the Liberty Tree Initiative to increase awareness of and appreciation for the role of the First Amendment in American society through Liberty Tree Week@Berry. Featured events included the planting of a Liberty Tree elm in front of Evans Hall commemorating the spot near Boston Commons where some of America’s first patriots gathered in 1765 to discuss the need for a new nation founded on liberty.

Other highlights of the weeklong celebration included a presentation by Tim Yancey, a master bookbinder who helped to create a limited series of historically accurate, precise Gutenberg Bible reproductions, and keynote remarks by Ken Paulson, former editor and senior vice president for USA Today. Also of note were events showcasing once-banned books and music.

The same day Liberty Tree Week@Berry kicked off, the Department of Government and International Studies hosted its 12th annual conference on Politics, Religion, Culture and Community. The focus of this year’s event was “Regime Change in America: From ‘A New Order of the Ages’ to the Politics of Hope and Change.”

The daylong conference included panel discussions featuring Berry students and faculty as well as visiting speakers representing Kennesaw State University, the Rochester Institute of Technology, the University of Virginia, the University of West Florida, Oglethorpe University and the University of West Georgia. Keynote remarks were delivered by noted political scholar and author Dr. James W. Ceaser, a faculty member at the University of Virginia.