Former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders will speak at 7:30 p.m. today in Memorial Hall as part of a weeklong campus celebration honoring King's contributions and aiming to improve race relations.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
Elders served as surgeon general from 1993 to 1994 during President Clinton's first term, focusing her efforts on health education for the poor. She resigned from the post in 1994 after her statement that masturbation should be taught as part of sexual education in schools caused public criticism.
Coordinators said they expect Elders' speech to relate her experiences in the health care profession to issues of social justice and inequality. "Health care issues and reform aren't at the top of the list and in the forefront of people's minds," said Nadera Malika-Salaam, program coordinator for the Sonja H. Stone Black Cultural Center.
A desire to bring health issues to the forefront stems from hardships Elders encountered as a young person, organizers said. Elders, who grew up as a sharecropper's daughter in rural Arkansas, first visited a doctor during her freshman year of college.
"Given her life and meager beginnings, she served the country as surgeon general, showing the power of the MLK message by overcoming obstacles and giving back to her community and country," said Kristi Booker, president of the Black Student Movement.
Elders' address is part of the campuswide Martin Luther King Jr. week organized by the Chancellor's Committee for the Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebration. The committee was composed of representatives of several student groups: Campus Y, the Office of Minority Affairs, the BCC, the BSM, the Carolina Union Activities Board and the Carolina Center for Public Service.
Events throughout the week will focus on King's ideas about service and social inequality and the need to take action in the community, organizers said.
To facilitate the dispersion of King's message, Terri Houston, director of on-campus recruitment for the Office of Minority Affairs, will mediate a workshop using role playing and small group discussion to foster self-examination. The workshop will be held at 4 p.m. Thursday in Toy Lounge in Dey Hall.
