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MLK plaza to open on Halloween Day

By Darryl Brown

Posted on Thursday, October 2nd, 2008, 12:00 am

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The Martin Luther King, Jr. Plaza next to the Memorial Union will open on Oct. 31 at 3 p.m. Vice President for Student Affairs Robert Dana proposed the idea to University of Maine President Robert Kennedy more than two years ago.

The main objective of the plaza construction is to offer students and community members a convenient location for inspiration and reflection. The Office of Multicultural Programs is among the campus organizations involved in the plaza design.

There will be seven quotes from Dr. King and his wife Coretta Scott King, which will be inscribed on granite pillars inside the plaza to symbolize the civil rights movement.

“I’m proud we are finally adding African-American history to our campus – this will be a good look for the university,” said student Kaimondre Owes.

The plaza is expected to cost $300,000. Of that amount, $200,000 came from private sources, with the balance picked up by the university’s operating budget.

There has also been related work on the ground and infrastructure. This was necessitated by recent steam line repairs and other issues. The exact cost of that project is undetermined, but it is expected to be nearly $200,000.

Sophomore psychology student Jeff Cardoza said the plaza will help expose students to the civil rights movement, particularly those from Maine. “Hopefully students will begin to appreciate Martin Luther King, Jr. for what he believed and devoted his life to,” Cardoza said.

Senior electrical engineering student Don Gurney and second-year graduate student Stephen Borst shared similar views, but were among the students with complaints about the plaza’s construction inconvenience.

At the opening, there will be a performance of freedom songs and slave narratives by Reggie and Kim Harris. Among the dignitaries expected to speak at the event are philosophy professor and King scholar Doug Allen and Joe Perry, president of the Bangor-area chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

An accompanying exhibit of images from the civil rights movement by photographer Charles Moore will be on display in the Bangor Room of Memorial Union. The photographs are on loan from Bill Kuykendall, a senior lecturer in new media.

Students from the university’s Black Student Union organization said they feel honored to have a piece of African-American heritage on campus. They plan to encourage students to attend the plaza opening.

BSU President Brandon Mclaughlin said each of the 25 members of his organization will be in attendance during the opening ceremony.

In 1964, Dr. King appeared in Brunswick to deliver a speech. A teenage student in attendance questioned King’s role in the civil rights movement. King responded by saying, “If your conscience stops at the borders of Maine, then you are less then who you should be.” This is one of the feature quotes that will appear on one of the pillars at the plaza.