Contact: Staci Maiers   (202) 822-7823

July 5, 2007

NEA President Receives
Prestigious Honor from Lincoln Cathedral

Announcement Coincides with Opening of Historic Magna Carta Exhibit

NEA President Reg Weaver addresses a crowd at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia to unveil Magna Carta: Foundation of Freedom, presented by the National Education Association and sponsored by Verizon Communications. In the background are (top l-r) Charles Walston of NEA and Wayne Valis, (bottom l-r) Joseph Torsella of the National Constitution Center and the Very Rev. Philip Buckler, Dean of Lincoln Cathedral. (c) 2007 Photo by Tommy Leonardi. Courtesy of the National Education Association. All rights reserved.

PHILADELPHIA—As an act of appreciation for instrumental efforts to bring a very rare copy of Magna Carta to the United States—and his landmark visit to the Lincoln Cathedral in 2006 that was met with widespread acclaim—the Cathedral has unveiled a stone column named after NEA President Reg Weaver.

"Two years ago, the Lincoln Cathedral came to this teacher and asked how they could help show the world this piece of living history," said Weaver. "Magna Carta is a vivid education lesson for children, revealing the origins of this country. The 3.2 million educators of NEA take pride in bringing this piece of living history to the United States at a time when we celebrate our own independence."

The announcement coincides with the opening this week of Magna Carta: Foundation of Freedom , an exhibit presented by the National Education Association with support from Verizon Communications. On loan from Lincoln Cathedral in the United Kingdom, NEA timed the exhibit to coincide with its Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly, which has attracted more than 15,000 educators and guests to Philadelphia.

"When I entered into the classroom more than 30 years ago, I never could have imagined that I would have an opportunity to look upon a document so steeped in this country's history," he said.

Earlier this year, Lincoln Cathedral's copy of Magna Carta arrived in Virginia Beach, Va., to coincide with the state's 400th anniversary. That exhibit, Magna Carta and Four Foundations of Freedom, shown at the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, also  included the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the Virginia Declaration of Rights and Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.

"At the National Education Association, we believe that a quality public education is a basic right of every child—a right as fundamental as those that were spelled out in Magna Carta," said Weaver. "Educators, each year, renew the promise of liberty when they teach young students about the historical significance of previous generations' attempts to guarantee freedoms."

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee
organization, representing 3.2 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education
faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators and students preparing to become teachers.