MLK Day Brunch and Day of Service is Jan. 15

UND’s Office of Diversity & Inclusion invites everyone for the annual MLK Day Brunch and Day of Service starting at 10 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 15, in the Memorial Union Ballroom.

This year’s focus is on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Beloved Community,” a society in which caring and compassion drive policies and support the elimination of poverty, hunger, bigotry and violence.

The brunch and keynote presentation will be from 10 a.m. to noon.

The keynote speaker will be Tomiko Brown-Nagin, dean of the Harvard Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Brown-Nagin is also the Daniel P.S. Paul Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School and a professor of history at Harvard University.

In 2019, Brown-Nagin was appointed chair of the Presidential Committee on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery, a committee anchored at the Radcliffe Institute. Brown-Nagin’s latest book, “Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality,” explores the life and times of the pathbreaking lawyer, politician and judge. The UND Bookstore will have copies of “Civil Rights Queen” available for sale, and Brown-Nagin will autograph books.

This year’s event is introducing a service project open to students, faculty and staff that will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Jan. 16-18, in the Memorial Union, Suite 201.

The project’s goal is to package items for unhoused individuals in the Greater Grand Forks area, supporting the ideals of King’s “Beloved Community.”

The Student Diversity & Inclusion website has more information on its Week of Service Challenge, as well as past recipients of the Martin Luther King Jr. Social Justice Award.