Photographs
Far left: Dorothy Allison (third from left) and students following Allison's 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 Summer Arts Festival coordinated by the Leslie Center for the Humanities.
Each January, the Dartmouth community recognizes the life and contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. through a series of events held in honor of his work. This two-week period offers us an important opportunity to focus together on questions that draw our individual attention throughout the year.
The MLK Celebration Committee has chosen a timely and powerful theme this year, inviting us to turn away from a natural tendency to avoid or deny conflict and to ask ourselves instead how we can more effectively move through it. Getting to the Mountaintop: Working through Conflict toward Reconciliation will open with an address by author, filmmaker, and performer Sherman Alexie. It will include discussions by members of the Dartmouth community, the celebration of Dartmouth's Social Justice Award winners, films, exhibitions, and performances.
I thank the MLK Celebration Committee and its chairs—Vice President for Diversity and Equity Holly Sateia and Special Assistant Nelson Armstrong—for their vision and work. Please join Susan and me in taking advantage of the rich opportunities they have made possible for conversation and learning.
James Wright
President
Dartmouth College
The Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration
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.
