I won’t bore you with some of the routine matters of the Membership meeting—“routine” meaning those non-controversial or unanimously agreed-to items. Those items focused on grievance issues from the faculty and student perspectives. What I want to address is an extended discussion that should have been a non-issue…
I am speaking of the extended discussion on the proposal to actually celebrate the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday in January. For the most part, discussion on the “not-to-celebrate” camp relied on the issue of class meeting times and the difficulties revamping syllabi, etc. Discussion on the “celebrate” camp was very gung-ho for the idea, even though reasons for celebrating (and how to celebrate) were somewhat sparse.
In spite of passioned speeches from both camps, I have a few solutions.
1. Let’s pretend that Martin never existed. This one is easy. I wouldn’t be typing this, and there would be no Euro-American women, no African Americans, no Asian Americans, no Latinos, and no international faculty at SVSU. The faculty would be Euro-American males, and this discussion would be a moot point because the University leadership would not care to share their power base.
2. Let’s assume that Martin is still alive. Again, this one is easy. I wouldn’t be typing this, and there would be no Euro-American women, no African Americans, no Asian Americans, no Latinos, and no international faculty at SVSU. The faculty would be Euro-American males, and this discussion would be a moot point because the University leadership dare not share their power base.
3. Now, we know that Martin is dead. As a result of his suggesting that the power base be shared, I am able to type this, and our faculty and student body is rich with peoples and ideas that enable us to be better persons.
So what do we do?
How about unofficially taking the day off?
And how do we do this?
1. Take a sunrise morning breakfast shared by the university to extend thanks for the day.
2. Have a convocation or symposium that lasts all day. Each department and discipline could offer papers, presentations, or posters that focus on the theme of “MLK and his legacy,” to show the inroads made in their respective disciplines because of the infusion of peoples and ideas.
3. Have student keynotes at the mid-day break.
4. Showcase student work at the evening celebration with presentations and posters focusing on the MLK theme.
5. Invite the local communities that support SVSU from Saginaw, Bay City, and Midland.
Think it can’t be done?
Think grassroot action.
Think yes, we can!
copyright (c) 2008 Fenobia I. Dallas
