Community service, lecture to honor Martin Luther King, Jr.

In recognition of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday, Jan. 17, 2011, a community celebration titled "A Day of Doing" gets under way at 9 A.M. in the Community Room of the Saratoga Springs Public Library.

According to the library's publicity materials, this year's observance of the national day of community service will recognize Dr. King's war on poverty and advocacy for all of America's have-nots, regardless of race.

Anyone with time to spare and a willingness to work will be able to sign up for local volunteer opportunities in the morning and carry them out later that day. In addition, there will be activities for children and teens. Formal programming featuring remarks by elected officials will begin at 3 P.M. Please click here for more information.

Skidmore will also honor the legacy of Dr. King with a special lecture on Monday, Feb. 7, by Stewart Burns, a professor at Williams College and the Massachusetts.   Burns's talk,"Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Vietnam War: "The Cost of Discipleship"will begin at 7 P.M. in Gannett Auditorium, Palamountain Hall. Admission is free and open to the public.

Burns, who has taught at Stanford and edited the third volume of the King papers there, is the author of "To the Mountaintop," a religious history of King's involvement in the civil rights movement. He will speak about the impact of King's decision to oppose the Vietnam War on his leadership of the movement and the country as a whole. 

The Offices of Student Diversity Programs and Religious and Spiritual Life, and the Intercultural Center are sponsors of the lecture . It is presented also as part of the "Theater of War in a House of Peace" series.