Paulette Granberry Russell, director of the Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives, said the group wanted to accomplish two things: Honor King’s legacy and raise support for a King commemoration.

The Martin Luther King Jr. march has grown from a single march on King’s birthday to an annual event in MSU’s celebration. Every year, students, faculty and citizens march across campus to Beaumont Tower to honor King’s many civil rights marches.

“It’s intended to remind us of the fight that took place in this country,” Granberry Russell said. “(The march) is symbolic of those efforts.”

MSU closed campus for the holiday in 1999, 20 years after Michigan civil servants were given a paid day off. MSU’s day off was part of a three-year trial to ensure students would commemorate King and not take advantage of an extra day off. The MSU Board of Trustees unanimously approved to continue the day off in 2001.

“I’m very pleased that the majority of us were in agreement,” former Trustee Dorothy Gonzales told The State News after the decision (“MLK Day to remain holiday for ‘U,’”:http://statenews.com/index.php/article/2001/02/mlk_day_to_remain_holiday (SN 2/15/01)).

MSU also has an endowed scholarship in honor of King, which was awarded for the first time in 2005. The Martin Luther King Jr. Endowed Scholarship, a student creation, is awarded to about three students every year who exemplify King’s teachings.

The Office of Inclusion has had a large role organizing the MLK commemoration, but it can’t take all the credit, Granberry Russell said.

“No one office can celebrate or sponsor commemorative activities on the campus that honor the life and legacies of Dr. King,” she said. “The work that we do is in collaboration with students, faculty and staff who understand and appreciate the need to celebrate the life of this great person.”