Last night, the Commission on Racial/Ethnic Diversity (CORED) held a rally to discuss ways to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. with a visual object on campus.

"Why can't Recreation Hall be Martin Luther King Hall?" CORED member Magdy Taha asked. "Or why can't [HUB] Alumni Hall or Heritage Hall be Martin Luther King Hall?"

Renaming a building or room on campus after King were some of the recommendations, which will be sent to Penn State President Graham Spanier, drawn up by the small group of students, faculty and staff who gathered at the rally.

The purpose of the visual object is to honor King's speech at Rec Hall on Jan. 21, 1965.

Although CORED already sent recommendations to Spanier on March 21, the new list is more detailed, outlining the feasibility of each project, Taha said.

Mahmoud Ablan, student issues management team co-chair, said many students do not know King spoke at Penn State forty years ago, and admitted he only recently discovered King's visit. He added a visual commemoration would help educate students about King and remind them of the life he led.

"It's a shame students don't know more about what he actually did," Ablan said. "He spent his life worrying about the greater good of everyone."

Teresa Hilgren, coordinator of student alumni programs, said CORED could ask the Alumni Association to create a historical marker on campus in honor of King's visit.

The marker would cost about $4,000, but could be covered by the association if it approved it.

"It has a broad historical context and a Penn State historical context," she said. "I don't think it would be any problem."

The group also discussed the advantages and disadvantages of other possibilities, such as a monument, a reflecting pool and sitting area, a scholarship fund or an audio/visual display of King's visit to Penn State at Pattee and Paterno libraries.

"Although a scholarship is great, it only helps diversity advocates," Ablan said.

"We need to do something to promote diversity among all students."

The group also agreed that a statue could create problems, due to its high construction cost and the fact that King's family has control over his image.

Taha said CORED should be prepared to encounter opposition from community members who may ask why other historical figures, who also visited Penn State, do not have a visual object for them on campus.

"Some people might ask, 'Why Martin Luther King but not the Kennedys?'" Taha said.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited Penn State in April 2004.