Lipscomb University students and faculty usually deck out in purple and yellow, but during the month of January, they embrace all of the diverse colors of the world in remembrance of Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy.
While Americans nationwide wait until the third Monday in January to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Lipscomb kicked off the month-long celebrations last Friday at the annual MLK Diversity Breakfast.
Lipscomb President Randy Lowry said he hopes that events like the breakfast will inform students on King Jr.’s social accomplishments in civil rights across America.
“Unless we’re deliberate and create the opportunities, we’re not going to understand what that’s about,” he said, educating students on diversity and inclusion. “God, in His wisdom, chose to create cultures and ethnic backgrounds, and we either share that, or we miss the richness of it.”
Guest speakers partnered with Lipscomb’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Department of Communication and Journalism to embrace King Jr.’s “dream” of diversity and inclusion.
Rose Jackson Flenorl, keynote speaker and Manager of Social Responsibility for FedEx Global Citizenship, said King Jr.’s legacy inspires her to live as the best version of herself every day.
“I often wonder as I serve in my community, if he would be proud of me,” she said.
Javier Solano of the Tennessee Latin American Chamber of Commerce shared the same thought. He said King Jr.’s message encourages him and his peers daily to work toward equality in Middle Tennessee.
“Attention to things like diversity and inclusion are very important everywhere,” Solano said. “But I think that these are some issues people in our area are thinking about and acting on a little bit more than they have in previous generations.”
With 48 states and 60 foreign countries represented at Lipscomb, Lowry said he hopes the campus’ growing diversity will prepare and train this generation’s graduates for life in the workplace after college.
Growing up in California, he said he believes schooling in the South provides students with priceless opportunities to visit historical sites associated with the civil rights movement in the United States.
“A number of our academic programs have civil rights tours or trips,” Lowry said. “And until you can experience on-site where some of that history took place, I’m not sure you can fully understand it.”
Other Lipscomb staff members said they hope to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day more than just a rest day from classes.
“It’s just a great opportunity to reach back, reach across and reach within to see how good we can be,” said Norma Burgess, Dean of Lipscomb’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Diversity events will continue beyond Martin Luther King Jr. Day as Lipscomb transitions into Black History Month in February.
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