The Carnegie Mellon community celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, January 17 In the University Center with several speeches and activities. The day's keynote speaker was Dr. Darlene Clark Hine of NorthwesternUniversity, the author of many books, including The African-American Odyssey, Black Victory, and Black Women in White. Clark Hine is a past president of the Organization of American Historians, as well as a professor of African American Studies and History at NorthwesternUniversity.

Her speech, entitled "Freedom Is Our Business: Black Professionals Before the Modern Civil Rights Movement," focused on the life of Maude Callen, a nurse and midwife in rural South Carolina. Callen appeared in Life magazine in December of 1951 in a photojournalism spread. She was the first black woman to be featured in a major publication.

Clark Hine's speech spanned from the emancipation proclamation to the 1950s, focusing on white separatism, black parallelism, and freedom of opportunity. She used Maude Callen's career history to describe the main topics.

White separatism started in the 1890s and was found in Jim Crow Laws and similar legislation. Black parallelism occurred when blacks created black-owned and operated industries or businesses that were similar to those of whites in order to survive professionally. This was done to remedy the fight against "separate but unequal" facilities for African Americans. Freedom of opportunity was ingrained in not only the right to vote, but the right to public goods that are provided through taxation. Clark Hine pointed out that the civil rights movement was catalyzed by great thinkers like Martin Luther King, but not centered in those leaders. The civil rights movement worked because it had a vast following from a variety of individuals across the nation.

University President Jared Cohon delivered his annual State of Diversity speech earlier in the day. He started his speech by mentioning last spring's Natrat incident and the state of the University's culture and climate in relation to diversity. Cohon attributed most of the controversy that resulted from the Natrat issue to a lack of support and respect for campus diversity among the Natrat staff and the overall Carnegie Mellon community.

In response to this, the Diversity Advisory Council, a group of students, faculty, staff, administrators, Trustees and external community leaders that was established in 1999 to identify and build awareness of diversity issues, will be taking action on assessing the state of diversity by conducting a series of surveys. The surveys will provide a baseline for the state of culture and climate on campus. Plans have also been made to research the possibility of adding more cultural sensitivity requirements to general education programs.

Cohon also talked briefly about the Supreme Court's decision in the University of Michigan's affirmative action case. The decision legally removed support for programs and groups that are exclusively for minority students. The Carnegie Mellon Action Program (CMAP), along with other similar programs, has been modified and no longer excludes non-minorities. CMAP works to advance the retention, collaboration, recruitment, and advocacy of African American, Hispanic, and Native American students within the University.

The Annual Report, produced by the Diversity Advisory Council, showed an increase in the percent of minorities, international students, and women in many sectors in 2004, including the Board of Trustees, Tenured faculty, Graduate enrollment and Undergraduate enrollment. This marks the second year that the undergraduate population has had a higher percentage of International and non-white students than white students.

Cohon defended past criticism of the heavy use of statistics in his diversity presentation by saying, "It's not just about numbers, but they do matter."

Cohon allowed questions once the diversity statistics were presented. One student asked Cohon if the Diversity Advisory Council planned to measure the number or percentage of gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender (GLBT) people in the Carnegie Mellon community. Cohon said that he believes that to question or survey the campus community on this topic would be invasive to privacy and is a sensitive issue for most. The Council does not plan to measure the GLBT community.

To end the presentation, Cohon presented a faculty member with the second Barbara Lazarus Award for Culture and Climate to Indira Nair, the vice provost for education. The award was started in 2004 to honor those devoted to "creating a welcoming and nurturing culture for all members of the campus community."  

The data presented at President Cohon's State of Diversity presentation can be found in Carnegie Mellon's Diversity Resource Guide (http://hr.web.cmu.edu/drg/overview/report.html).

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