The university held a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination  in the university. 

This was found to be very important to the university because of the connection to Dr. King while he was alive.

He first came to speak here in 1959 and spoke on the future of integration during one of the lecture series. At that time the university was only two years old starting in 1957. His speech took place at the Bushnell and was a very big deal for the university. For the last 20 years, the university would also hold an event on the Monday holiday of his birth.

Even though the campus is open, the university would like for students to take time to remember his legacy.

At the ceremony, they rang a bell 39 times for each of the years that he lived celebrating his legacy.

Students can take away the idea of how Dr. King impacted the diversity of the campus.

“One of the things that you are going to walk away with is he was only 39 years old and he has that ongoing legacy. What am I going to do? How am i going to make my mark? What will people say about me? And also reflect on the things that he encouraged,” Executive Director of Marketing and Communication explains what students can learn from this event.