Institute honoring Kennedy dedicated
BOSTON — President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain are among the guests scheduled to pay tribute to the late Sen. Edward Kennedy at the formal dedication of an institute named for him in Boston.
A ceremony is scheduled today at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate.
The $79 million facility features a life-sized replica of the Senate chamber. Guests, including student groups, will be able to role-play as senators and debate some of the major issues of the day.
The institute was built next to the John F. Kennedy presidential library on Boston’s Columbia Point.
Family members said Kennedy, the Democratic “liberal lion” of the Senate, conceived of the institute before he was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2008. He died in 2009.
Kennedy served in the Senate for 47 years and hoped the institute would teach the role the Senate plays in the government.
