Members of Baker University’s cultural diversity group, Mungano, joined hands behind Jesse Milan Wednesday as he read Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech during an all-campus dinner in the Harter Union cafeteria.
Milan, who founded Mungano in 1969, served as Baker’s first black faculty member and said a lack of diversity on college campuses is still a problem today.
“I travel all over the state of Kansas and there are students of all races who don’t celebrate Martin Luther King’s holiday,” Milan said. “There are schools right here in Baldwin that don’t celebrate the holiday, and we all need to recognize that the quest for freedom is still valid.”
In order to commemorate King’s birthday, as well as Black History Month, Mungano members organized the dinner to include live singing by Baker students as well as the speech from Milan.
“(The all-campus dinner) is just a great way for everyone to get together and reflect on the fact that another year has come and gone and black history is still a very alive thing and that it is not forgotten on the Baker campus,” Mungano President Kelly Vaughan said. “And even though we aren’t as far as we should be or could be, the fact is that we are still striving to make our lives better through (King’s) words.”
Senior Jeremy Frye said the speech made him think about the holiday.
“I think (the speech) had a really good tone and dialogue,” he said. “I especially liked it when the Mungano members stood up behind Milan.”
Sophomore Sarah Jones also said the event had a positive impact on her.
“The event was a good idea because it helped us bring a little bit of history into the present and helped you remember the past,” she said. “I also liked (the dinner) because it was a chance for students of all different campus organizations to get together.”
Although the dinner and speech had a positive impact on some students, Frye said not everyone was able to enjoy it because of the noisy atmosphere.
“I wish (Mungano) would do this more often during the year because it is really important, but having it in the cafeteria made it really hard to hear,” he said.
Even though some students continued to talk throughout the dinner, Vaughan said the event was more about the students that were impacted by the speech than the students that were not touched by it.
“Everyone has their own moment in time when they have an epiphany,” she said. “Even if one person was touched by the speech or the singer, then that means a lot more to me than not having the event and not having anyone touched.”