In an effort to promote a day of service in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., the Commission on Racial/Ethnic Diversity (CORED) met yesterday to discuss a student-led initiative to cancel classes to commemorate the day.
Mahmoud Alban, CORED student team co-chair, said many students face not having time to participate in service activities because of classes during Martin Luther King (MLK) Jr. Day.
He added that service activities would benefit the entire community, including State College elementary and high school students, by breaking the stereotypes of college students and minorities.
"The climate in the community in itself will change," Alban said. "We're hoping it will become a Penn State tradition."
At the meeting, Alban and co-chair Amanda Guzman shared some of the team's activities, including a written petition, an online petition, meetings with various administrators and statistics of the number of people who have participated in day of service events in the past.
Guzman said the student team has received many student comments posted on the online petition stating they were personally offended that Penn State does not recognize MLK Day as a holiday, and canceling classes would provide an opportunity for students to participate in service activities and celebrate diversity.
The team presented several solutions for students to take part in MLK service activities without losing class time, including activities on the ANGEL Course Management System, out-of-class writing assignments, take-home quizzes or required participation in MLK Day events.
Alban said the university does not promote studying during the fall study day, however, there are several university-sponsored activities celebrating MLK Day.
Terrell Jones, vice provost for educational equity, said the initial design of the fall study day was a day of structured advising hours and studying, not a time for students to leave the university to visit their friends or families.
He added that to cancel classes on MLK Day would "not achieve the desired effect," since he thinks most students would treat the day like a fall break and go home. Jones said King would not want the day off, and added that the message behind the civil rights movement is to educate.
Magdy Taha, Paul Robeson Cultural Center manager, said he is supportive of MLK Day.
But he said as a former student, he believes most students would take advantage of the holiday to go home instead of participating in activities.
He added that he believed attendance in service activities would be higher if classes remained in session on MLK Day.
CORED member Hans Arora said because events are all day, there are several opportunities for students to participate, however, the events do not receive enough support from the university.
University Faculty Senate Chair Kim Steiner said the difficulty of changing the university calendar and the reluctance of faculty giving up a day in the middle of the semester could concern the Senate if the initiative is brought to it.
Alban said the student team plans to conduct more research before the commission meets again to make a decision.
Guzman said the student team is putting together questions for a Penn State Pulse survey, which the team hopes to administer in the spring as another avenue of support.
CORED also consists of an outreach team, staff issues management team, academic team and climate team and advises Penn State President Graham Spanier on racial and ethnic diversity issues on campus.
