MLK Day well planned, but more support needed

The official Martin Luther King Jr. holiday has come and gone, but the legacy and the celebration of the man, the movement and the message continues. On Monday, Associated Student Government will bring the Rev. Bernice King, who is King’s youngest daughter, and the Chicago Children’s Choir. Hopefully the turnout will be better than at this Monday’s event.

I applaud the university committee for programming quite possibly the best MLK Day in its three years of existence. I also thank those who attended any MLK observance. It is unfortunate that in a university community composed of thousands of students, faculty and administrators, there were 500 empty seats at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. No, you aren’t a bad person for being absent, but the Rev. Billy Kyles’ message was outstanding, Kevin Maynor’s commemoration song and recitation was thought provoking and Northwestern Choral Ensemble’s songs were inspiring – it is sad that many of you missed it.

To what do I attribute this absence? Maybe it was the 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. time, maybe some professors still held classes or classwork was too heavy or maybe some people didn’t recognize Kyles’ significance to King. But I wish more people had turned out for the sake of supporting an MLK program that included something for everyone.

I also believe that the university should give a full day off. After all, even the national government shuts down. Nonetheless, for those who complain about wanting a full day off and don’t have a valid excuse for being absent at Monday’s official observance, you aren’t helping the cause. I ask that we continue the fight for a full day recognizing King, but let’s also fight with our presence in addition to our voices. They go hand in hand.

Le’Jamiel Goodall

Chairman of the ASG MLK Day Committee

Speech junior

Rejected student should reconsider her complaints

There is no better source of petty entertainment than a scathing letter written to a college newspaper by a fellow journalist with “faultless” ethics and a supreme sense of entitlement. The accusations offered by Katherine Kirkpatrick in her Wednesday letter regarding the “brick wall” that houses the Medill School of Journalism, although not entirely false, bled hypocrisy and martyrdom from every wound.

Kirkpatrick suggests her numerous activities and accomplishments, along with good scores and a solid GPA, should have guaranteed her a spot in this elite school. Perhaps they should have. But the merit argument is undermined quickly by the suggestion that surely her numerous family ties, which include alumni and current siblings, should have made her a veritable shoe-in here. So, my question is, which is it? Are you opposed to the “gentlemen’s club” attitude you perceive that has kept you from attaining the coveted editor-in-chief position of The Daily? Or are you seeking to use your NU familial connections – an elitist attitude if ever there was one – to gain admission?

Finally, there can be no doubt Kirkpatrick is a talented writer, as her letter demonstrated. But perhaps she should have exercised some restraint before sending down such a heavy-handed judgement. It’s a shame we have “lost a prime candidate for editor in chief” if for no other reason than the entertainment value. Look out Russell Crowe, here comes Katherine K! (Well, maybe not here precisely).

Courtney Riggle

Education senior

Anti-abortion supporters are missing the big picture

To the painter of yesterday’s rock earlier this week, which read, “Abortion: 38 million innocent children killed since 1973”: If you want to stop women from having abortions, don’t look to the lawbooks. You should look into preventing unplanned pregnancies. Whether legal or illegal, abortions occur. Approximately 46 million women have abortions every year worldwide. Of those, 20 million, or 43 percent, are “in countries where abortion is restricted or prohibited by law,” according to The Alan Guttmacher Institute. An estimated 78,000 women around the world die every year from complications relating to unsafe abortions. If you truly want to protect all the “innocent children,” I sincerely hope you’re going to spend your life promoting the availability and usage of effective forms of birth control around the world, and not fighting abortion laws.

Kristen Kolada

Speech senior