By Matt PresserThe Daily Northwestern

I’m sorry.

I’m sorry for those of you who missed one of the most moving campus celebrations I’ve ever seen, Monday afternoon at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall.

I’m sorry for those of you who slept in or hit the snooze button or spent the day watching TV.

I’m sorry for those of you who spent Sunday night at the Keg.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, this is yet another column about campus involvement. Or the lack thereof.

See, before yesterday, I don’t think I had ever truly celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Call me insensitive. Call me uninformed. Call me whatever you please.

The truth is that last year I went to hear Kweisi Mfume, the keynote speaker during our three-hour allotment for remembering MLK, and I enjoyed it.

But by the time it was over, I was getting ready for my classes and moving on with the rest of my day.

This year’s celebration was different in a number of ways: We had a day off – you can call it a “day on” if you want, but I’m calling it a “day off” – from classes and a full day of interesting programming. The question is, Did students really take advantage of it?

Looking down my dorm hallway as I was leaving for the Clarence Page keynote address, it was unusually empty. Doors closed, it seemed people took the opportunity to sleep in or – judging by the noise outside my door the night before – recover.

As I walked to Pick-Staiger just minutes before the event was scheduled to begin, I remembered how full the auditorium was last time I was there, for Bob Saget’s comedy show. I was worried that I’d have difficulty finding a seat; that is, until I walked in and saw how many were indeed empty.

Granted, Pick-Staiger says there were 850 people attending Page’s speech. But, from my seat – which was conveniently next to three empty ones – I was surrounded not by students but by community members.

They might have been alumni or parents or Evanston residents, but based only on their gray hair and wrinkles, they definitely weren’t undergraduates.

Of course, I’ve heard all the reasons for why some events weren’t particularly well-attended. There’s the stress of sorority recruitment, the need to catch up on homework or a lack of sleep after a long week.

But the event was only an hour-and-a-half. The keynote speaker was a syndicated columnist published in about 200 newspapers around the country. His words were passionate, but funny; smart, but clear. It felt as if we were having a one-on-one conversation.

I also stopped by the reception Monday afternoon at Norris University Center. As I was filling my plate with free egg rolls, someone walked up to me and asked, “Is this just, like, free food?”

The food was supposed to be used for discussion of race-related issues, but most people just took off after grabbing towering plates of Buffalo wings and brownies.

This wasn’t just a three-day weekend, folks. It was a time to commemorate and remember a man who left his mark on our society.

It’s not too late.

So go to the MLK Public Interest Job and Internship Fair at the Louis Room from noon to 4 p.m. today.

Or attend the lecture on “The Meaning of Martin Luther King, Jr. for the 21st Century” at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary at 11 a.m. tomorrow.

Or better yet, just remember, reflect and realize.

Remember a man for what he’s done and how he left the world a better place.

Reflect on how far we’ve come.

And realize – as Page emphasized – “how much can be done by all of us at any age.”

Campus editor Matthew Presser is a Medill sophomore. He can be reached at [email protected].