Each year, SMU celebrates the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on campus and in the wider community.
In 1966, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a speech in SMU’s McFarlin Auditorium to a standing-room-only crowd. In 2023, our campus unveiled a historical marker to commemorate the occasion. Every year, SMU honors the legacy and memory of Dr. King on campus and within the greater community.
SMU has long been a participant in the City of Dallas MLK Parade. Faculty, staff, students and University leadership have taken part in the parade with an SMU float alongside our spirit organizations. The SMU community can join the fun at Fair Park.
In 2024, our campus hosted the 32nd annual MLK Oratory Competition. Fourth- and fifth-grade students from Dallas ISD presented speeches at in McFarlin Auditorium – just where Dr. King spoke – on “how Dr. King would reflect on the 60 years since his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.”
Each year, our Office of Social Change and Intercultural Engagement hosts this week full of events that allow students, faculty and staff the chance to reflect and think deeply about Dr. King’s impact today.
Students are encouraged to write their own dreams for 2024 on these displays in Hughes-Trigg Student Center throughout the week.
Students, faculty, staff and members of the community are welcome to join in this annual event at the Flagpole at noon on January 17, where SMU President R. Gerald Turner and Vice President for Student Affairs K.C. Mmeje lead the program. Student representatives from the Association of Black Students and the National Pan-Hellenic Council will also be in attendance.
Unity Circle has been moved indoors to the Hughes-Trigg Chamber at 12 pm.
This renowned advocate for change will delve into timely topics during a keynote address, sharing his own journey with attendees in McFarlin Auditorium at 6 p.m. on January 17. Dr. Williams led the trauma surgeon team at Parkland Hospital during the 2016 mass shooting in downtown Dallas.
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