FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Cindy Deppe, media relations, 641-269-4834

September 14, 2007

GRINNELL COLLEGE COMMEMORATES M.L. KING'S 1967 CAMPUS ADDRESS IN WEEK-LONG SYMPOSIUM

Why important: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke on the Grinnell campus on Oct. 29, 1967, one day prior to his 19th jail sentence for his involvement in the civil rights movement and just six months prior to his April 1968 assassination.

1967 . . .Vietnam . . .civil rights activism . . . M.L. King, Jr. speaks at Grinnell College during a national convocation on liberal arts colleges in a world of change. King's visionary Grinnell address, "Remaining Awake During a Revolution," dramatically foreshadowed current world conflicts and domestic events.

Forty years later, the relevance of King's message will be commemorated during a week-long symposium on the Grinnell College campus, Sept. 23-29. "King's 1967 message about the need for societal change, alternatives to military force, and his call for worldwide fellowship are even more pressing today," said H. Wayne Moyer, director of Grinnell's Rosenfield Program in Public Affairs and symposium organizer. "The symposium events engage King's address in relation to current events from political, social, and religious points of view." All events will be held in the Joe Rosenfield '25 Center, Room 101, on the Grinnell College campus unless otherwise noted.

Sept. 23, 2 p.m.: The symposium will open with "Marching with Dr. King," remarks by Congressman John Lewis (Ga., D), who marched with King as a student leader in the '60s and currently represents the Georgia district that includes King's boyhood home and the famous Ebenezer Baptist Church.

Sept. 23, 8 p.m.: The audiotape of King's 1967 address will be replayed during "Remaining Awake: Dr. King's Address Reprised," a presentation of photographs and images from that era. The audience is invited to quietly reflect on King's message among a luminaria gallery.

Sept. 25, 8 p.m.: Romand Coles, associate professor of political science and Germanic languages and literature at Duke University, will reflect on King's address with "Awakening with King: or Refusing Political Soporifics." Coles, who specializes in political theory, is the author of "Beyond Gated Politics: Reflections for the Possibility of Democracy."

Sept. 26, 4:15 p.m.: A panel discussion by Grinnell faculty members will offer cross-disciplinary views of "Martin Luther King and 1967." The panel includes Bob Grey, professor of political science; Victoria Brown, L.F. Parker Professor of History; Tim Dobe, assistant professor of religious studies; Raquel Greene, assistant professor of Russian; and moderator Tim Simmons, lecturer in English.

Sept. 26, 8 p.m.: Grinnell alumnus and journalist Robert Hodierne will compare "Iraq and Vietnam: Different Wars, Different Soldiers." Hodierne, who was a student photographer during King's visit, began his career as a freelance photographer in Vietnam. He later joined the Army and served in the Saigon bureau of "Pacific Stars & Stripes" Currently the senior managing editor of "Military Times," Hodierne has worked as a television news executive, writer, editor and supervisor of award-winning projects. Hodierne was part of a team that won the Pulitzer Prize for meritorious public service. An exhibit of Hodierne's photographs of King's 1967 campus visit will be on display in the Smith Gallery at the Rosenfield Center.

Sept. 27, 11 a.m.: A Scholar's Convocation by Chandra Talpade Mohanty, professor of women's studies at Syracuse University, will discuss "Practicing Wakefulness: On Imperial Projects, Insurgent Knowledges, and Feminist Commitments," based on Mohanty's work in anti-racist education, transnational feminist theory, and cultural studies.

Sept. 27, 8 p.m.: Michael Sells, John Henry Barrows professor of Islamic history and literature at the University of Chicago's Divinity School, will provide perspectives on "Making Religions of Peace." Sells, who studies religion and violence, is currently completing an expanded edition of his 1999 book "Approaching the Quran: the Early Revelations."

Sept. 29, 2 p.m.: A panel of Grinnell alumni who were students during King's 1967 visit will recall that volatile period on campus. Alumni panelists include: Mary Brooner, senior director, Motorola, Washington, D.C.; Hubert Farbes, partner, Brownstein Hyatt and Farbes P.C., Denver; Ric MacDowell, owner, Appalachian Photography, Hamlin, W.V.; Frank Thomas, senior counselor, Grinnell College; and moderator Jon Andelson, Rosenfield Professor of Social Science-Anthropology, Grinnell College.

Sept. 29, 8 p.m.: "Convivencia," a composition for choir, string quartet, and harp written by Grinnell Professor of Music John Rommereim, will be performed by The Grinnell Singers in the Sebring-Lewis Hall in the Bucksbaum Center for the Arts. Rommereim describes the composition as "the attempt to draw connections between Jewish, Muslim, and Christian cultures by focusing on experiences that are shared by everyone around the globe and across centuries: affection, desire, grief, and loss." Members of various faith communities will present readings of the work's texts, which were translated by symposium speaker Michael Sells. Following the performance, attendees will have an opportunity to meet with the performers, participants, and Rommereim.

Symposium attendees may also wish to view the Moroccan artists' exhibition in Faulconer Gallery in the Bucksbaum Center for the Arts. The exhibition, Sept. 29-Dec. 16, features installations by seven North African artists of sculpture, photography, mixed media, interactive computing, and film.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium is co-sponsored by Grinnell College's Rosenfield Program in Public Affairs, International Relations, and Human Rights; the Lilly Endowment, Inc.; and the college's Office of Diversity and Achievement. Grinnell College thanks the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Estate for permission to share King's words with the campus community and visitors.

The Rosenfield Center is located at 1115 8th Ave. and the Bucksbaum Center for the Arts is located at 1108 Park St., both on the Grinnell College campus.
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