The University of Dayton will be plenty busy next week in celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 16, despite having the day off class.

Unity Week sponsored by SGA, the Center for Social Concern and the Diversity Lecture Series gives students, faculty and community members a chance to gather and discuss this important figure in American history.

According to Erin Meyer, co-director of campus unity for SGA, the goals of Unity Week are to celebrate and encourage diversity and unity on campus, as well as to bring attention to ongoing projects, groups, and activities with a focus on these issues.

Unity Week's keynote speakers, Ben Anderson and Jesse Cornelius of DramaTeach, will present a high-energy presentation on diversity Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. in McGinnis Main Meeting Room.

This presentation will incorporate learning about leadership and diversity through drama and action while keeping the youth in mind.

Other important events sponsored by SGA include the 19th annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Prayer Breakfast in Kennedy Union Ballroom at 7:30 a.m. on Jan 17.

Clarence Page, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and television commentator, will speak on 'Keeping the Dream Alive' at the breakfast. Ticket prices are $10 for faculty, staff and guests and $8 for students. They can be ordered at http://www.udayton.edu/~ku/tickets.

On Jan. 18 members participating in Unity Week will join together before the UD basketball game for a tailgate party at the bottom of Stuart Hill outside of Gosiger Hall.

Participants are asked to wear the gold ribbons that will be passed out in honor of Unity Week to the game versus Temple at 7 p.m. in the UD Arena.

A student panel on Jan. 19 at 7 p.m. in KU Ballroom is another event allowing students to speak on diversity issues at UD.

'Students, faculty and staff are invited to voice their opinions on campus unity and diversity as well as hear what some of the campus student leaders have to say about it,' Meyer said.

Meyer and SGA are also working on coordinating a day of service on Jan. 21 which will include projects such as Habitat for Humanity.

To end Unity Week, a candlelight vigil in Humanities Plaza on Jan. 22 at 6 p.m. will take place.

Students can purchase luminaries for a $1 donation towards the United Way in KU Lobby all week from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

'Overall, Unity Week wants to portray to students the fact that even though there are many different types of people from all walks of life at UD, we are all connected through our enrollment at this University,' Meyer said. 'Unity is an important aspect of campus life and should be celebrated throughout the entire year, not just during Unity Week.'

Martin Luther King Jr. Day will also be celebrated through the Center for Social Concern. The city of Dayton organizes a march and rally in King's honor beginning at Montgomery County Fairgrounds and ending downtown at the Courthouse Square.

Students at UD are asked to participate. Vans will leave from the front of the Chapel at 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 16 and return after the event is complete.

Those interested are to contact Selena Hilemon, Coordinator of Community Outreach for the Center for Social Concern, for more information.

The Center for Social Concern will also be sponsoring a luncheon and film on race relations in the United States on Jan. 16. The film, 'America Beyond the Color Line,' will be followed by a discussion with Dr. Larry Welborn from United Theological, a seminary in Dayton.

The event begins at 12:30 p.m. in KU 331.

Along with the prayer breakfast, Clarence Page will also speak on 'The March to the New Century' Jan. 16 at 6:30 p.m. at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Annual Holiday Celebration and Presidential Banquet at the Mandalay Banquet Center. The Diversity Lecture Series co-sponsors this event.

Page is a Dayton-area native, having grown up in Middletown. He began as a freelance writer and photographer for the Middletown Journal and Cincinnati Enquirer at age 17.

He interned for the now-defunct Journal Herald out of Dayton, and today he continues to be a freelance writer, with his column appearing regularly in the Dayton Daily News among other papers. In 1989 Page won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary. He continues to speak on issues of race and African American identity in his commentaries.

According to Page, Martin Luther King Jr. is still very relevant in the world today.

'Martin Luther King opened up opportunities for my generation and beyond and set a model for the world,' Page stated in a press release. 'From Poland to China's Tiananmen Square, you see freedom demonstrators singing, 'We Shall Overcome.' He changed the way we look at freedom and justice.'