Local outreach marks MSU's 30th MLK Day

In 1980, the MSU community came together for the first time to recognize a man that not only broke down barriers during the civil rights movement, but also gave his life in doing so.

Thirty years later, MSU continues to remember the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. through numerous college programs held in his honor.

“I think the best way to remember the legacy of Martin Luther King is to get out there and do something,” mathematics professor Robert Bell said.

Bell, along with several faculty members, helped coordinate this year’s Lyman Briggs College Day of Service. The event encourages volunteering within the community, Bell said.

The college will pair with the student organization Into the Streets.

Those who participate will go to different agencies around Lansing and East Lansing to help with different projects for the day. The projects will impact children, senior citizens and the homeless, with an emphasis on helping the environment.

“It’s such a rush to give back to the community while honoring Martin Luther King. I can look back on this with fond memories,” said education junior Megan Gustafson who participated in Into the Streets last year.

The College of Agriculture and Natural Resources also will honor King with a commemorative luncheon at the Kellogg Center, featuring guest speaker Celeste A. Clark, senior vice president of global nutrition and corporate affairs and chief sustainability officer of the Kellogg Corporation.

“We want to pay tribute to the work that King has done, with the understanding that we are on a continuous journey,” said Brenda Alston-Mills, associate dean and director of the Office of Organization and Professional Development for Diversity and Pluralism. “We want to offer this to the university community, both internally and externally, and we want to give them the benefit of Dr. Clark’s knowledge.”

The College of Family and Child Ecology will host a guest speaker, Robin Jarrett, to commemorate the occasion with her lecture The Strengths of African American Families: An Ethnographic Approach.

“The focus of (Jarrett’s) work fits with the ideals and principals that King spoke of,” said Deborah Johnson, a professor of family and child ecology.

“(Jarrett) emerged as part of a significant group of scholars after King,” Johnson said. “She is the manifestation of the ideas of King.”

Gustafson said she is grateful for the opportunity to remember King.

“It’s great the university has these programs for us,” she said. “It keeps history alive.”

Take a quiz on facts about King’s life