Mechanical engineering freshman Gavin Meyer doesn't have specific plans for Monday, but he knows it's Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

And after he sleeps in, while he's lounging around his room in Wonders Hall, Meyer said he will honor King in his thoughts.

"It's a good time to reflect on the past and what we've been through as a country," he said. "Especially Dr. King and the steps he took to have everyone treated the same."

More than 90 miles to the west of MSU, Grand Valley State University student Trevore Donaldson said he also will think about King's impact on American history but from a more personal approach.

"It's a day of reflection about the past and how things have changed since my parents were living - how things are better for me," he said.

But Donaldson won't sleep in on Monday.

He will get up early like every other day of the semester and go to class, wishing Grand Valley canceled classes for the holiday.

"I've never been in school on that day," he said. "I have to skip a class to perform with the gospel choir in the celebration."

MSU urban and regional planning Professor June Thomas has mixed feelings about the holiday.

"It's an interesting way that MSU has chosen to deal with that day," she said. "Because all the events are optional and staff needs to work."

Thomas said she must attend numerous meetings before she can participate in the activities planned on campus. But she said the significance of the activities make her time spent in meeting rooms worthwhile.

Academic programming is the most important part of the planned activities according said Paulette Granberry Russell, director of the Office for Affirmative Action, Compliance and Monitoring.

"One of the main objectives of the Board (of Trustees) when they considered canceling classes was to assure that the university community was involved in educational activities," she said.

The holiday should be seen as a day to learn about King's principles, she said.

MSU first canceled classes on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1999 in response to various campus groups advocating activities for the holiday.

The Board continued the cancellation of classes and will review the decision every five years. Russell said she is excited about the possibilities that the day holds.

"Each year we grow," she said. "We have an opportunity to learn from the past and look forward to the future."

Russell said she encourages students to engage in the events, from social to academic, recognizing the work of King.

That encouragement is echoed by Thomas, who grew up in South Carolina during the civil rights era, saw King speak on more than one occasion, went to his funeral and was one of the first black students at Furman University.

"There's not a lot of general knowledge," she said. "But there's always hope that days like this would increase knowledge."