Annual celebrations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy at MIT

2007 IAP MLK Seminar

Living up to the dream: Seminar participants organized community projects and designed t-shirts to advertise the installation.

2007 Projects

  1. Visiting Cambridge community centers and elementary schools to teach the children about Dr. King and the civil rights movement
  2. Conducting a voter registration drive in area homeless shelters and on the MIT campus
  3. Designing t-shirts and buttons for seminar participants to advertise the installation
  4. Setting up an ASA group for students who would like to volunteer their time at the CASPAR shelter
  5. Continuing their work this spring with the MIT@Lawrence Program on improving educational opportunities

MIT students discuss issues of race and tolerance while making plans for a creative installation in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. From left are sophomore Poting Cheung, juniors Jenny Man and Christopher Chapman and sophomore Ricky Burgess. Photo: Donna Coveney, MIT News, 2007

Students honor Martin Luther King Jr. with creativity, open minds

Sasha Brown, MIT News Office, 12 Jan 2007

This is the seventh year for the MLK Design Seminar, led by Tobie Weiner, undergraduate administrator in the Department of Political Science. Each year it becomes more popular. “People are telling people about it,” Weiner said. Through discussion groups, readings and guest speakers, students delve into issues of race and equality they might not explore throughout the year. Together, they decide on a project that reflects the work they have done. Past projects have included work in the Cambridge Public Schools, educating the children about King and the civil rights movement, race and race relations. Students also organized a Boston Martin Luther King Dream Dinner as a fundraiser to contribute to the MLK memorial fund in Washington, D.C. Another group from a past course created a DVD with MIT faculty and administrators, as well as alumni, who spoke about “the changing face of MIT in terms of diversity,” Weiner said.

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MLK Display Vandalized

The Tech, 16 Feb 2007

Vandals defaced the Martin Luther King Jr. display in Lobby 10 last Saturday and Tuesday nights. James Pacella, a student who helped build the display, said, “The whole purpose of the installation this year was to answer the question, have we lived up to the dream? … The vandalism only shows that we still have a ways to go to live up to the dream.”

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