Widener Law Commonwealth Dean andré douglas pond cummings speaking at 'America at 250' event
Widener University Commonwealth Law School Dean and Professor of Law andré douglas pond cummings took part on June 10 in an online continuing legal education (CLE) program — "America at 250: The Power of Words – Rethinking the Declaration of Independence and the Fourteenth Amendment 2026."
The live webcast brought together legal scholars, historians, educators, and community leaders for a conversation that felt especially relevant, as the country inches toward the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The focus? The voices that history too often left out — and what America's founding ideals might have looked like if those perspectives had been part of the process from the start.
From the Declaration of Independence to the Fourteenth Amendment, participants dug into how these cornerstone documents are read today, and asked a harder question: how might they have been written differently?
It was a thoughtful, searching look at constitutional history, inclusion, and what equality in American law actually means, not just on paper, but in practice.
Dean cummings was joined by scholars and leaders from Penn State University, the Pennsylvania Bar Association, and regional community organizations.