On Thursday, Staff Writer Luken Sloan attended the Undergraduate Community Initiative’s first event—a celebration of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and a commitment to following in his footsteps in order to further community.

On Thursday, January 25, the schools of Columbia College, Columbia Engineering, and General Studies banded together to host an event for Columbia undergraduates as a step in fostering and improving community. “Choosing Community: Celebrating the Life and Legacy of MLK” is the first of a series of community events and opportunities to come as a result of the initiative. 

Undergraduate Student Life Dean Cristen Kromm began the event with a speech that stressed looking towards the future with hope, especially in moments of tension. Columbia College Dean Josef Sorett followed her speech with his own. Although he could not make it in person due to testing positive for COVID-19, Dean Sorett was able to attend the event over Zoom. Dean Sorett explained how he has been interested in starting an initiative like this for years. He emphasized how Dr. King appealed to creative tension—a tension that is “defined by an embrace of differences” in order to facilitate growth and diverse perspectives. Dean Sorett’s stated goal of the initiative was to help foster a community of sustained and deep learning that consists of individuals who represent every part of the world. To achieve this, we must ask ourselves—drawing on Dr. King’s last book—“Where do we go from here—chaos or community?”

After Dean Sorett’s speech, a series of readings of Dr. King’s works and speeches followed. Columbia College Student Body President Teji Vijayakumar (CC ’24) began by reading an excerpt from Dr. King’s sermon “Love in Action.” Vijayakumar’s excerpt focused on how humanity’s ignorance has led to war, slavery, and segregation—all forms of disruptions of community. One particularly impactful moment of this excerpt was the notion that “intellectual and moral blindness is an ill which man inflicts upon himself.” 

The next reader was Columbia Engineering Student Council President HaYoung Jin (SEAS ’25). She read from Dr. King’s “A Tough Mind and a Tender Heart,” which focused on the importance of empathy and passion in building community. Along with this, Jin’s reading stressed how “nothing pains some people more than the idea of having to think.” It is the rarity of “hard, solid thinking” in the mind of people that leads to unbelievable gullibility. 

DeAngelo Hunter (GS ’24) then read from the book that influenced the event, Where Do We Go From Here? Hunter’s reading of the excerpt was strikingly passionate and resonant. This excerpt was most interested in how violence and hate cannot be effective solutions to conflicts. The excerpt from Dr. King straightforwardly states this: “You can’t murder murder.” In affairs regarding building a diverse and productive community, it is thus important that we acknowledge that “darkness cannot put out darkness; only light can do that.”

Reading from Dr. King’s Nobel Lecture, Senior Lecturer of Economics Sunil Gulati conveyed what Dr. King viewed as the “great new problem” of humanity: a “great ‘world house’ in which we have to all live together.” The world has been profoundly changed, Dr. King had argued, and the connections between individuals and communities cannot be reversed. The lecture viewed this problem with hope, though: “Love is going to have the ‘last word.’” Gulati’s excerpt makes clear that Dr. King viewed love as the solution to the problems of the world. 

Columbia Alumni Association Chair Lisa Carnoy (CC ’89) was the last individual to read. She read from “Beyond Vietnam,” a speech condemning the Vietnam War out of moral imperative and concern. Carnoy’s excerpt included a portion of the critique that Dr. King received for his calls for love and justice instead of violence—and his response: “They do not know the world in which they live.” Based upon a foundation of history and his life experience, Dr. King expressed the notion that “conflicts are never resolved without trustful give and take on both sides.” This excerpt acted as a culmination of the others by reinforcing Dr. King’s values of love, justice, and nonviolence and suggesting them to be the path towards creating a better community.

Once Carnoy finished, Columbia Engineering Dean Shih-Fu Chang officially announced the beginning of the semester-long undergraduate community initiative. He emphasized the initiative’s interest in building a community of belonging, respect, and service. School of General Studies Dean Lisa Rosen-Metsch followed Chang’s speech. She stated that the nonlinear paths and diversity of perspectives and experiences of Columbia’s undergraduates are some of the institution’s greatest strengths, especially in fostering community. She proceeded to reiterate the goals of the initiative that Chang laid out.

To close out the event, Uptown Vocal, Columbia’s premiere jazz a cappella group, performed. They performed renditions of “How High the Moon” and “Helplessly Hoping”—two songs that beautifully align with the love and hope that Dr. King and his works embody. 

More information on the events, opportunities, mission, and methods of contact for the Undergraduate Community Initiative can be found on the initiative’s website. 

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