This page is no longer being updated and remains online for informational and historical purposes only. The information is accurate as of the last page update.
For questions about page contents, contact the Communications Division.
Before she took a class on the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution at Lafayette, Shannon Sullivan ’04 (Wading River, N.Y.) had never given much thought to the idea of separation of church and state. Now, those issues are an integral part of her life and the focus of a summer research project.
Sullivan, a double major in government and law and Spanish, is examining the constitutionality of “abstinence-only” sex education programs in public schools as an EXCEL Scholar with Helena Silverstein, associate professor of government and law.
“We definitely found a lot of information that there are mostly Christian-affiliated groups going into public schools to teach about abstinence education,” says Sullivan.
In Lafayette’s distinctive EXCEL Scholars program, students collaborate with faculty on research while earning a stipend. Many of the more than 160 students who participate each year go on to publish papers in scholarly journals and/or present their research at conferences
Sullivan began by gathering and reading information on her topic in scholarly journals, law reviews, newspapers, and the Internet, and identifying about 100 organizations that sponsor abstinence-education programs in schools. Now, she’s preparing to interview representatives of some of those organizations, in hopes of learning about their curricula and teaching methods.
“Most of them are crisis pregnancy centers,” Sullivan says, explaining that while some programs operate nationwide, many are community-based.
Silverstein says that Sullivan, a writing associate in Lafayette’s College Writing Program, is well qualified for the task and is doing much of her work independently.
“She can discern what is important to examine,” Silverstein says. “Not only is she skilled at gathering information, she also has the requisite familiarity with the legal issues.”
Sullivan says she plans to examine similar First Amendment issues when she begins work on her senior honors thesis in the fall.
A graduate of Shoreham-Wading River High School, Sullivan is vice president of program development for Alpha Phi sorority, a tour guide, and a member of Marquis Players, a student group that produces and performs an annual musical to raise money for charity.