Notre Dame to observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Author: Michael O. Garvey

Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day will officially be observed nationwide Monday (Jan. 18) and the University of Notre Dame will present a number of events to mark the occasion.

An ecumenical prayer service will be held Monday at 4 p.m. in the rotunda of the University’s Main Building. Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., Notre Dame’s president, and Rev. Hugh R. Page Jr., dean of the First Year of Studies and associate professor of theology and Africana studies, will offer prayers in memory of Dr. King. Sacred music will be provided by the Voices of Faith Gospel Choir and a reception will follow.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Series, sponsored by Notre Dame’s Office of Multicultural Student Programs and Services (MSPS), also will honor the memory of the nation’s foremost civil rights leader with two events.

A weekend workshop for Notre Dame students, faculty and staff on “Crossroads Anti-Racism Organizing and Training” will be held Friday (Jan. 15) from 6 to 9 p.m., Saturday (Jan. 16) from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday (Jan. 17) from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Oak Room of South Dining Hall.

“While the workshop involves a serious time commitment, it provides a great opportunity for understanding and analysis of institutionalized racisms in America, and to provide professional strategies for eliminating them,” according to Tobias Blake, assistant director of MSPS. Blake said that MSPS will waive the workshop registration fee for students, faculty and staff who wished to attend. Interested participants may sign up by contacting Blake at 574-631-8503 or tblake@nd.edu.

Tim Wise, activist and author of four books on racism, including, most recently, “Between Barack and a Hard Place: Racism and White Denial in the Age of Obama,” will give a lecture Jan. 26 (Tuesday) at 7:30 p.m. in the Carey Auditorium of the Hesburgh Library. Wise’s lecture, which will draw on his book, is free and open to the public.

Contact: Tobias Blake at 574-631-8503 or tblake@nd.edu