The menu included barbecue ribs, smothered chicken, red beans and rice, candied sweet potatoes, collard greens, whole kernel corn, biscuits, honey butter, corn bread, pound cake and fried fruit pies, and it was all in the name of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Students who ate in the University dining halls Wednesday celebrated King's birthday with the "African-American Heritage Dinner."

But some students called the menu offensive to African Americans.

"I thought it was an insult. It was a stereotypical dinner of what black people eat," said Michelle Thompson (senior-earth science).

"It's like they geared it to the fact that (King) is a black man so this is what black people eat," said Shamina Carter (junior-administration of justice).

Sylvester Roy, director of personnel for the Office of Housing and Food Service Operations, and Lisa Wandel, assistant director of Food Services, came up with the menu ideas and found recipes in Ebony magazine.

Roy and Lawrence Young, director of the Paul Robeson Cultural Center, reviewed the choices and found no problems with the menu.

"It is no more stereotypical to include those items than it would be to include spaghetti at an Italian meal, rice at a Chinese meal or a tortilla at a Mexican meal," Young said.

Some students agreed, saying that the meal was not a negative view of African-American culture.

"I personally didn't take it as a stereotype, but if we eat it, we do. I don't understand why it should be looked upon as bad," said Tonyalea Warfield (senior-psychology).

And one student offered a suggestion for next year's dinner.

"I wouldn't even have a special menu. I suggest that they serve a birthday cake with his picture on it," said Veronica Conway (sophomore-division of undergraduate studies).