About the MLK Program
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Program is both an academic advising community and a social justice education community.
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The goal of social justice education is full and equal participation of all groups in a society that is mutually shaped to meet their needs. Social justice includes a vision of society that is equitable and all members are physically and psychologically safe and secure.
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Situated in the College of Liberal Arts (CLA) at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities and with all CLA undergraduates eligible to join, the MLK Program specializes in serving students who identify as Black, Indigenous, or students of color (BIPOC).
Our Mission
The MLK Program has a 50-year history of providing University of Minnesota students with individualized, holistic, and culturally-competent advising in support of educational equity, academic excellence, career development, and wellness.
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Our MLK Program mission includes providing educational programming that fosters students' engagement with and understanding of the complex issues of power, privilege, and social justice. We promote and support students' exploration of modes of advocacy and activism that enhance their capacity to imagine a more equitable and just world and to be a part of creating it. In so doing, the MLK Program supports the University’s mission to prepare students to be ethical leaders and engaged citizens.
Our History
The program was launched after the landmark Morrill Hall takeover by a group of African American students who were seeking greater student and faculty diversity, the establishment of the ethnic studies programs, and more robust student support services.
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Through this historic event, set on the heels of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., our program was envisioned. To learn more about the historic Morrill Hill takeover, click here. The program has changed over the past 50 years, but the goal to ensure students from historically underrepresented communities have access to the best academic resources on campus has remained the same.
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Throughout our history, we have found inspiration and guidance in the words and actions of our program's namesake, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. For more on Dr. King's legacy in Minnesota, including a speech he gave at the University of Minnesota in 1967, please watch this special broadcast, aired by Twin Cities PBS (TPT).
