The inaugural MLK Student Symposium that is set to take place on Saturday, Jan. 18, at the MSU Union will give students the chance to discuss the challenges faced within systemic barriers, to share their experiences, express their identities, and promote inspiration for change. The symposium is one of the events planned for the 45th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Celebration at Michigan State University.
The keynote speakers for the MLK Student Symposium are Ruth Nicole Brown, Professor and Chairperson of the Department of African American and African Studies, and LeConté Dill, Associate Professor, Associate Chairperson, and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of African American and African Studies.
With the theme “Voices of the Dream: For Us, By Us,” this powerful student-led symposium will create a space for authentic dialogue to empower students to raise their voices and advocate for themselves on critical issues faced while attending a Predominantly White Institution (PWI). By fostering a sense of community and solidarity, the symposium will encourage students to take ownership of their narratives and push for a more inclusive campus environment.
“In his August 1967 speech entitled ‘Where Do We Go From Here?,’ Dr. King says ‘Power, at its best, is love implementing the demands of justice; and justice, at its best, is love correcting everything that stands against love.’ Such principled love is required in order to build anew, create structures and culture beyond what we currently know, and activate our collective dreams for Black Studies emphasizing Black feminism, sexualities, and gender studies, which is why Dr. King remains one of our greatest teachers for us in the Department of African American and African Studies,” Brown and Dill explained.
“During our keynote, we will be modeling this value of community and will be guiding students in re-membering, recognizing, and tending to their own practices of individual and collective ‘somebodiness.’”
Dr. Ruth Nicole Brown and Dr. LeConté Dill
Dr. Brown joined Michigan State University in July 2020 as the inaugural Chairperson of the Department of African American and African Studies (AAAS) and has led that department and its creation from the very beginning. An internationally recognized leader in Black Girlhood Studies, Brown’s research documents, analyzes, and celebrates Black girls’ lived experience and explores the gender and racialized power dynamics of collectivity, particularly as it relates to Black girlhood. In January 2021, Brown became the first faculty member from the College of Arts & Letters to be named an MSU Foundation Professor.
Dr. Dill is a scholar, educator, and poet who is guided by Black Feminist methodologies with a commitment toward transdisciplinary and community-accountable scholarship. Her work focuses on the safety, resilience, and wellness strategies of urban Black girls, young women, and gender-expansive young people. Her most recent project at MSU, funded by the Diversity Research Network, enables her work specifically with Black women in student and staff roles at MSU to better understand how individual and collective wellness practices are activated and nurtured through spending time together in cherished physical spaces in which to engage in such practices. She teaches courses that include Centering Wellness, Black Girlhood Studies, Writing for Our Lives, and Pedagogies of Protest.
“In our five years as a department, we are thrilled that the student organizers of ‘Voices for the Dream’ reached out to AAAS to facilitate a session dedicated to community building. Community is a core value in AAAS and it is one way we activate a cultural affirmation we abide by in the department: ‘We are here [at MSU], and we already belong.’ For us, this means we do not have anything to prove but rather, as Dr. King instructed, we move, act, and study from a deep and bold belief in our dignity, worth, and somebodiness,” Brown and Dill explained. “During our keynote, we will be modeling this value of community and will be guiding students in re-membering, recognizing, and tending to their own practices of individual and collective ‘somebodiness.’”
Besides the keynote speakers, the MLK Student Symposium will include presentations, entertainment, and a soul food dinner as well as an informational and student organizational resource fair.
The symposium, scheduled for 2:15-6:45 p.m. on Jan. 18., is hosted by the MLK Student Planning Committee within the MSU MLK Commemorative Celebration Committee.
Registration for the symposium is at no cost to MSU students, however, you must register no later than Wednesday, Jan. 15, via the registration form found on this page.
For more information on the MLK Student Symposium and other Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Celebration events, see the MSU Today article, “MSU Honoring 45 Years of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Celebration.”
