Yesterday was Constitution Day at Penn State, but you probably didn't even know it by walking around campus.

"I haven't heard anything about it," Daniel Edelman (junior-economics) said.

Yesterday marked the second national Constitution Day, a federally mandated holiday where all educational institutions receiving federal funds are required to hold programs or events to increase constitutional awareness.

Last year, Penn State celebrated the occasion with a series of activities to teach students about the Constitution.

This year, events in the real world specifically designed to commemorate the day were not scheduled at University Park, as Penn State opted instead to put up a Web site, available at www.publicscholarship.psu.edu/constitution, with information about the Constitution.

Jeremy Cohen, who founded the Penn State Laboratory for Public Scholarship and Democracy, presented a program Saturday through the Hintz Alumni Center's "Huddle with the Faculty" lecture series titled "The End of Democracy or An American Dream Reawakened." This program was not, however, specifically advertised as being connected to Constitution Day.

Rosa Eberly was part of the team from the Penn State Laboratory for Public Scholarship and Democracy that was in charge of creating the Web site.

"What we decided to do this year is something that would last all year, rather than just a one-day event for a small number of people," Eberly said of the site.

Mary Lou Zimmerman Munn, coordinator of the Laboratory for Public Scholarship and Democracy, said the Web site is a good way to reach a wide variety of people.

"It highlights the need to not just think about the Constitution one day a year," she said, adding that the site may have a better chance to reach students given "today's interest among young people in the Internet and Web sites."

Charity Yeager (junior-agriculture) said she was not aware of Constitution Day and hadn't heard about the Web site.

"It should be more advertised so people actually know what it is," she said.

Sen. Robert Byrd (R-West Virginia) was behind the legislation to require educational institutions receiving federal funds to recognize Constitution Day.

"The senator created this program through legislation with the intent that more Americans have a better understanding of the Constitution," Jennifer Reed, Byrd's spokeswoman, said.

"He didn't lay out any specific way in which a school should address the Constitution," Reed added.

Edelman said that the idea of a day devoted to Constitution education was unnecessary.

"You should have learned that back in civics class," he said.

Clay Calvert, professor of communications and law, participated in last year's reading of the Preamble of the Constitution on the steps of Old Main. Calvert said last year's event was sparsely attended by both students and faculty.

"Last year's event was clearly under-attended, but the first time you do any event that's going to happen," he said. "It's kind of disappointing that nothing's going on besides the Web site."

Calvert, also co-director of the Pennsylvania Center for the First Amendment, added that the new Web site itself was a step in the right direction.

"The Web site that has been created for Constitution Day certainly is informative and filled with factually interesting information about the Constitution as well as our lack of knowledge in the United States," he said.

The Web site reveals that 59 percent of American teenagers who were surveyed can name all of the Three Stooges, while only 41 percent can name the three branches of the U.S. government.

It also contains links and resources to help professors tie discussions about the Constitution into their curriculums.

Eberly said the Web site will be able to reach more people for a greater amount of time than a live event could.

"If you really want to be serious about the Constitution you don't just hold a one-day, feel-good event," she said.

Eberly added that she had already received more than 50 notes of positive feedback from visitors who went to the site.

Edelman said a Web site is not enough.

"There should be an event," he said. "It should be something relevant, something students enjoy. Just don't make it pointless."