STUDENT NEWS
The road to reform
Insight from the Anniston Star
By Jeanne Cross
Special to The Star
04-29-2007

The college experience ushers in many rites of passage necessary before a checkbook-balancing, grocery-buying, apartment-owning “adult” can be produced.

Roadtrips are one such rite of passage, and they are arguably one of the most revered experiences of college. Whether Waffle House or Panama City, college students always are looking for a good excuse to get behind the wheel where the rubber meets the road.

On Wednesday, however, I had the opportunity to be a part of a different type of roadtrip. This one was to Montgomery for reform of Alabama's 1901 Constitution. For a college student, the prospect of a roadtrip takes precedence over attending class any day; however, there was more than just missing class lectures motivating students from across the state, including myself, to trade our backpacks for banners.
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A journey to progress
Insight from the Anniston Star
By Portia Shepherd
Special to The Star
04-29-2007

Wednesday morning started with an anxious group of black college students arriving in Montgomery after a 90-minute bus ride from Miles College.

After arriving on the Capitol steps the students and I went to greet staffers from Greater Birmingham Ministries, an ecumenical nonprofit involved in constitutional reform.

Later, the Miles students went to meet senators before a noon rally in support of a new state Constitution. Entering the Statehouse was like a dream since none of us had ever been inside.
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Students push for constitutional reform
The Birmingham News
Thursday, April 26, 2007

KIM CHANDLER
News staff writer

MONTGOMERY - University students rallied on the steps on the Alabama Capitol Wednesday telling lawmakers they want to be the last young people to come of age with a Jim Crow-era state constitution.

About 120 students gathered for the rally sponsored by the College Council for Constitutional Reform and Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform. .
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Reading for reform
Tuscaloosa News
Article published Oct. 25, 2006

TUSCALOOSA | Matthw Lewis brought blankets with him, ready for the cold night that lay ahead as he and about 45 University of Alabama students settled in to read the state's constitution on the steps of Reese Phifer Hall.
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Can we talk about the constitution?
The Birmingham News
Tuesday, October 24, 2006

THE ISSUE: Thanks to college students for raising an issue today that
most candidates are ignoring.

So when is the last time you've heard a candidate, any candidate (but
especially those for the Legislature), talk unprompted about a new constitution
for Alabama?
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UA students voice need for new constitution
Article published Oct 24, 2006 Tuscaloosa News

University of Alabama students are making an extraordinary effort to draw attention to reforming the state's constitution this homecoming week.
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Reading for reform
Published Monday, October 23, 2006 Gadsden Times

College students take up cause of new constitution
On at least 15 college campuses in Alabama, there is reason to hope students will be taking about for than their classes, or football and festivities for the weekend passed and the one coming up. Students at colleges across the state will work to draw attention to the need for a new state constitution by reading the old one - a document that dates back to 1901 and is dated in many ways.
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Alabama Students for Constitutional Reform
The Exponent, February 10, 2005

Imagine, only for a moment, that in this day and age, you happen to live in a state that has a constitution that was written way back in 1901. Everything from mosquito control to bingo is included within the 104 year-old constitution and because of the complicated and punitive tax laws set forth in this state constitution, the poorest citizens of that state pay nearly eleven percent of their income in state taxes, while the wealthiest one percent has to pay just four percent of their income to state taxes.
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New ASCR chairman wants his group to be more active
Crimson White, April 23, 2004

The Alabama Constitution is the longest constitution in the United States. Adopted in 1901, it contains 287 sections. More than a century and 742 amendments later, the document has become the focus of a heated constitutional reform debate.
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ASCR starts letter-writing campaign for reform
Crimson White, February 09, 2004

It's out with the old and in with the new -- or at least that is what Alabama Students for Constitutional Reform wants.
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Home rule amendment to be presented once again
Crimson White, January 28, 2004

A bill presented last year that would give Alabamians the power to decide whether to grant home rule to counties may come up again in this year's legislative session.
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Constitutional reform: stalled or just starting?
Crimson White, October 27, 2003

Many politicians and residents have long called for a revision or general scrapping of Alabama's constitution. But the 1901 document, though amended more than 700 times, has survived into the 21st century, and now the nearly century-old movement to rewrite it seems to be at an important crossroads.
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UA professors discuss how tax plan has affected constitutional reform
Crimson White, September 05, 2003

Two UA professors who served earlier this year on Riley's Alabama Citizens' Constitutional Commission say the $1.2 billion tax plan has affected the movement to reform Alabama's behemoth 1901 constitution - believed to be the largest in the world with more than 700 amendments - and not for the best.
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Students work with state organization for constitutional reform
The Plainsman, September 25, 2003

The Alabama Constitution has not changed since 1901, causing dissatisfaction among some state residents, including university students. Auburn Students for Constitutional Reform is a new campus organization that was chartered last spring and is considered an official student affiliate of the Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform.
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Stewart has deep roots in constitutional reform efforts
Crimson White, March 21, 2003

Efforts to reform Alabama's 1901 constitution are not new to University political science professor emeritus Bill Stewart, who began participating in the constitutional reform movement during Gov. Albert Brewer's administration in the late 1960s.
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