A chance to celebrate a King
37 years after the United States made Martin Luther King Jr. Day an official holiday, CSC has canceled classes to allow students to be a part of a celebration across campus.
Throughout the day, the Social Science Club will host presentations and events in the Student Center to acknowledge Dr. King and his work towards gaining equality.
At 9 a.m. Dave Nesheim, associate professor and sponsor of the Social Science Club, will give a presentation titled, “The Long Journey to Observing MLK Day” in the Student Center Bordeaux Room.
Associate Professor Kurt Kinbacher will present “The Long Journey to Birmingham: The Movement behind MLK’s Jailhouse Letter” at 10 a.m. in the Bordeaux Room.
From 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. the movie “Southside With You,” the story of the first date of Barack and Michelle Obama and the civil rights activities happening in Chicago during that time, will be screened in the Ballroom.
Following the presentations, the social science club will lead its annual march from the intersection of Third and Main streets to the Student Center Ballroom.
At 2 p.m., Ali Tomineek, keynote speaker of the event, will perform a non-explicit concert in the Ballroom followed by his speech at 5:30 p.m.
The theme for this year’s celebration is “Living the Dream?” The presentations held throughout the day aim to examine life after the civil rights movement come to examine whether or not the dream MLK strived for has been achieved.
Members of the Social Science Club fought for the funds from student government in order to ensure Tomineek’s performance.
“It’s bringing a lot of diversity on campus more than just Christian rock group or ‘The Eli Young band’. It’s something different that the campus hasn’t seen,” Social Science club Treasurer Cody Mandrigan said in a December senate meeting where the club asked senate members to help fund the event.
“He can tell us what his perspective as an up and comer in the industry- about what’s changing and what isn’t and what he’s seen.”
In the past, the Social Science club invited students and the public to participate in the march across Chadron. However, classes were still in session. This year is the first year that CSC has chosen to acknowledge the events that the Social Science Club are holding by canceling classes for the day.
Not having classes on Monday allows all students and faculty to observe the holiday and appreciate the work MLK did to fight for equality.
Mandrigan hopes that the presentations start a conversation about modern equality and how MLK’s work has effected today’s culture.
“We kind of want to open it up to be cohesive and a really diverse thing that get a conversation and get other things towards diversity and cultural programs started,” said Mandrigan.