Photographs
Far left: Dorothy Allison (third from left) and students following Allison's 2005 Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration keynote address. Photo by Joseph Mehling, College Photographer. Center: Members of AXIS Dance Company, a mixed-ability dance troupe, performing at the Hopkins Center as part of a Hopkins Center campus residency cosponsored by IDE. Photo by Jack Rowell. Right: Discussions at a Diversity Forum hosted by IDE. Photo by The Dartmouth.
Artwork
Detail from mural produced by Ernesto Cuevas and Dartmouth students as part of Encuentro Latino, a 2005 Summer Arts Festival coordinated by the Leslie Center for the Humanities.
Dartmouth College's Annual Celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.
January 20 - February 1, 2008
2008 Keynote SpeakerTowards Freedom
Dr. King's 1962 speech given at Dartmouth College Schedule @ a GlanceDetailed Schedules: |
Identities -- cultural and individual -- are both visible and invisible in multiple ways. Some markers of identity can be read on the body, though not as reliably as we sometimes think. Others cannot. Identity is also visible or invisible in terms of what we pay attention to in our teaching, learning, and working environments -- as well as in our homes, communities, and public spaces. This year's theme focuses on socio-economic class as a category especially ripe for exploration in this context. The committee was inspired by Dr. King's desire to organize a Poor Peoples Campaign and his focus on poverty in the last years of his life -- an often neglected yet significant aspect of his legacy.
We also have chosen this year to connect our efforts with various class-focused initiatives already taking place on campus: the Hopkins Center's Class Divide project, the Dartmouth Centers Forum theme of the same title, the Great Issues in Medicine Symposium on Poverty, and others. Our hope is that all of us, at Dartmouth and in the broader community, will become more aware of the ways socio-economic realities shape our world and lives and, as a result, will be inspired to address the pressing issues created by economic inequity.
Nelson Armstrong '71 and Giavanna Munafo
Co-Chairs, 2006 Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee
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Each year, the Office of Institutional Diversity & Equity, together with the Office of Conferences and Special Events, arranges a program to celebrate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The program theme varies each year, but we are always trying to explore what we learn in our society and what shapes us as we negotiate the diverse world that surrounds us. Throughout our celebration, we attempt to acknowledge a number of very powerful and competing dynamics in US history; some of them affirm our humanity, some detract from our common humanity.
A campus that values difference and that supports diversity is a campus that encourages its members to explore the complexities that are central to intellectual life. Matters of race, ethnicity, and gender are not always easy to confront. But they must be confronted for issues concerning them are critical to this society and must be understood by those who would seek to lead it. A diverse campus enriches us all. The observance of Martin Luther King Day provides us with the opportunity to recognize and to celebrate that fact.
Dartmouth has a charter commitment and a proud tradition of open access for all. We need to live up to that tradition and ensure that we not only provide equal access for all qualified students but that we also encourage a climate at the College that is open and accepting of difference. An academic community can afford to be no less than this.
