Northwestern is considering declaring Martin Luther King Jr. Day a university holiday, University President Henry Bienen said Thursday morning during his annual State of the University address.
Bienen’s comments are a departure from previous years when he maintained NU would continue holding classes on the day, instead holding a midday break for speakers and other ceremonies. But he added NU would lose its “excellent” programming by shutting down for a day. Recent speakers include King’s daughter Yolanda King and former National Association for the Advancement of Colored People president and CEO Kweisi Mfume.
“You can’t do the kind of programming we do,” Bienen said.
Weinberg junior Michael Collins, the coordinator of For Members Only, the black-student alliance, said he is “almost insulted” that Bienen is considering, not confirming, the declaration.
“It’s way overdue, and to even be discussing it at this point seems to be completely incongruous with the university’s policy on tolerance and acceptance,” said Collins, who heads the black-student alliance.
Collins said other universities such as the University of Chicago have declared the university holiday without harming programming. But Bienen said in his speech last year that students might be tempted to use the day off to “take a long weekend.”
Bienen discussed a variety of other topics, including grants, scientific research and McCormick Prof. Arthur Butz in his annual address. His half-hour speech was followed by an hour-and-a-half question-and-answer session in Thorne Auditorium on NU’s law school campus in Chicago.
In the past year, NU received $381 million in grants for science and social science research and is looking to break ground on the Proteomics and Nanobiotechnology building “reasonably soon,” Bienen said.
Yet although he hopes to renovate the School of Music’s buildings and Norris University Center, Bienen said progress on both projects is stalled because of lack of funding.
“(Progress is) a wish, not a plan,” he said.
Regenstein Hall and the Music Administration Building have seen few renovations in recent years as new science and research buildings have been built on North Campus. A plan to build a new Music building still needs a lead donor. Music junior Mike Brofman said he isn’t particularly bothered by NU’s facilities.
“I don’t think having a new building is a matter of emergency or dire survival for our school,” he said. “All that really matters is the quality of your faculty.”
Bienen addressed Butz’s Holocaust views in the question-and-answer session. Butz was quoted recently in the Chicago Tribune in support of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s comments calling the Holocaust a myth. NU students, faculty and staff have signed a petition calling for the university to take action, and Bienen issued a statement Monday calling Butz’s views “odious.”
“I’m glad to get the question about Butz,” Bienen said. “Notice I don’t dignify the person with the term ‘professor’.”
Although Bienen referred to Butz as “a venomous crank” and an “embarrassment to Northwestern,” Bienen said Butz is entitled to free speech and it is illegal for the university to fire the tenured professor.
As part of NU’s efforts to defray rising utility costs, Bienen said the university will make new buildings “energy efficient.” NU recently purchased renewable energy certificates that will account for 20 percent of the university’s electricity, making NU one of the top 25 renewable energy purchasers in the country.
The energy certificates will cost a lot in the short run but will “save a lot of pollution,” said Ron Nayler, vice president for facilities management, after the speech.
“The amount of renewable energy we are purchasing would take more than 4,000 cars off the road,” Nayler said.
The Daily’s Elizabeth Campbell contributed to this report.
Reach Deepa Seetharaman at [email protected].
