Though we have several recesses throughout the year, there is only one holiday on which classes do not meet - Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. Why is this?
I recently wrote to President Nan Keohane asking her this very question. An administrator replied on her behalf and explained that Duke wished to commemorate and commit itself to "struggles for peace and justice." She then said that "many of our sister institutions do likewise."
But after checking the academic calendars of five of our sister institutions, I found that none have the exact same policy as we do. UNC observes Independence Day, Labor Day and Good Friday. N.C. State observes Labor Day and has an "Easter Recess." Wake Forest observes Good Friday. UPenn celebrates Independence Day. And Stanford observes both Independence Day and Presidents' Day.
But here at Duke, we only observe Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. And there's really no logistical reason for it. Sure, there is a lot of programming on campus, but there was just as much for Sept. 11, when we had class. And it's not like Martin Luther King, Jr., Day is a great day to miss class, as it lies only a week and a half after our longest break of the year and is on a Monday, a day during which many students have many classes. It seems that it would be much more convenient scheduling-wise to observe Good Friday.
But why don't we? Well, according to the administrator, to observe other holidays "would lengthen the school year in ways that students and faculty would not like." The fact is, the administration wants the year to be as short and as uninterrupted as possible and therefore does not find it worthwhile to celebrate any holidays - except for Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. This is a major problem.
My point is not that we should have class on Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. I'm also not writing this because I think we need to have other holidays off. My argument is that the University's observance of Martin Luther King, Jr., Day shows a preference that should not be made. Granted, King was a remarkable leader who did an incredible amount of good for all Americans - good that should be celebrated by all. But to imply that his legacy is more deserving of observance than the independence of our nation is making a value judgment that our administration should not be making.
It should have come as no surprise that Duke used Martin Luther King, Jr., Day to espouse the same brand of radical liberalism it promotes at all opportunities. At the "Service of Celebration and Commemoration," Keynote Speaker Lani Guinier gave a speech which John Hope Franklin said would hopefully allow students to "be enlightened and be urged to understand the importance behind the whole movement of affirmative action." And even though many believe that affirmative action starkly contrasts with King's vision of a color-blind society, no one holding this perspective was invited to speak Monday.
It got a lot worse, as the "Martin Luther King, Jr.: Poverty and Labor Issues" discussion held Monday was led by a motley crew of left-wingers. They included a Harvard student who recently organized a living wage movement, a "union steward" and a representative from the group that organized the Mt. Olive boycott. And the discussion was almost predictably followed by another one led by "people who traveled to Washington, D.C., Saturday to protest the possible war against Iraq."
Once again, my problem is not with King or with having to attend class on Good Friday. It is with a University that treats Martin Luther King, Jr., Day as a day more important than all others while abandoning King's dream and replacing it with the liberal nightmare of dependency and victimhood.
By the way, I was originally going to write this column about Laura Whitehorn. Then I realized that it should not take 750 words to explain why paying a lesbian who bombed the U.S. Capitol building and claims to not be ashamed of it to speak on campus is a problem. Anyone with a brain knows that a person imprisoned for bombing the Capitol building is not a "political prisoner," as the Franklin Center's website advertised her. Whitehorn is a terrorist, meaning that she should not receive student funds to speak on campus, especially during the war on terrorism. That it took the Duke Conservative Union to criticize her selection is the most glaring evidence yet for why a conservative presence is needed on this campus.
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