For 20 years UVU has been celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. day, but this year is unlike the previous ones. This year is the first year the Black Student Union has helped plan and organize the festivities for MLK week.
Bill Cobb, professor of History, has been on the MLK committee since it’s beginning and was excited about what BSU has added this year.
“BSU presidents convinced me that we needed to be more inclusive in listening to students in a way we haven’t in the past,” Cobb said. “Including them this year was a way to get a lot of involvement on campus.”
Not only is the BSU involved, but many clubs such as the UVU Spectrum, Single Parents and many other clubs joined in this semester to help with the panels. Students will be speaking on panels from all types of minority groups such as religion minorities, racial minorities, sexual orientation minorities and even single parents.
The following are titles of some of the panels happening during MLK week:
Contemporary minority issues
Women’s voices for change
Changing definitions of civil and human rights
Minority students experiences at UVU
BSU has been a club for several years, but this year is the first year which they have more than just participated in events. There are many others to be involved this year including the lead in “Othello” a Shakespeare play put on last year at UVU.
A visiting scholar and professional actor named Baron Kelly who is coming back to UVU to perform a play he wrote, called “The Meeting,” and even the governor has been invited to attend. The governor also attended part of MLK week last year.
“The Meeting, is a play about what it would have been like if Malcom X would have lived at a time when he could have talked to Martin Luther King,” Cobb said. “It is an interesting idea because the two of them had the same goals of equality, but Martin Luther King has a more peaceful approach than Malcom.”
On Thursday there will be school wide free parking all day because of the activities happening that day.
By Tiffany Thatcher – Asst. News Editor
