University students, faculty, staff and administration gathered in the ornate Gerlinger Alumni Lounge on Wednesday afternoon to celebrate the recipients of the University of Oregon Martin Luther King Jr. Awards.
The Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity (OIED) gave this award to University faculty and staff who carry on the ideals of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. through their various abilities and accomplishments. The five recipients for this award were: Kathy Campbell, Johnny Earl, Lynn Fujiwara, Melody Ward Leslie and Peter O’Day.
In their acceptance speeches, they were both gracious toward and critical of the University.
University President Dave Frohnmayer was the master of ceremonies. As he passed out awards he highlighted what each recipient had done to deserve the recognition.
The first was Assistant Professor of Journalism and Communication Kathy Campbell. She was recognized for her work as the primary planner of the school’s diversity planning committee. The SOJC drafted one of the University’s first diversity plans and has served as a model for others who are crafting them. Campbell also directed the Summer Journalism Workshop for Minority High School Students.
Custodian Johnny Earl was the second to receive his award. Earl serves as the classified employees’ representative on the University’s Diversity Advisory Committee as well as a member of the Diversity Committee for Facilities Services.
Frohnmayer praised Earl’s belief that one man can make a difference.
The third recipient was Lynn Fujiwara, assistant professor of Women’s and Gender Studies. Fujiwara was acknowledged for her career in teaching classes that Frohnmayer called “both intellectually and personally challenging.”
Fujiwara was also recognized for devoting much of her time to increasing the number of faculty of color at the University by sitting on several committees and recruiting people of color she thought would make good faculty “both formally and informally,” she said.
Melody Ward Leslie, assistant director of Development Communications, was recognized next for her work serving on the Lane County Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee.
Frohmayer also said that she was being acknowledged for her “dedication to equity and visibility for all people.”
Lastly, Associate Professor of Biology Peter O’Day was given an award for his achievements as the director of the Summer Program for Undergraduate Research in Life Sciences (SPUR), which helps under-represented minority students gain access to careers in the sciences. Before SPUR, O’Day served for 10 years as the director of the University’s Minority High School Student Research Apprenticeship Program.
Although all recipients expressed extreme gratitude, they all communicated a feeling that, as Lynn Fujiwara said, “We have a long way before we achieve diversity.”
Each award winner touched on inadequacies they saw at both the University of Oregon and other flagship universities in terms of fairness and diversity. Johnny Earl commented on the number of classified employees who lack technologically based knowledge.
He urged the University to “bring everyone along” into the future.
Peter O’Day said the science field lacks diversity and funding for positive change, and Kathy Campbell later said that there was a significant gap in the diversity of campus media.
When ending her acceptance speech, Campbell expressed the sentiment of all those who received this award when she said, “We do this work, live these lives, really, not so much for ourselves but because of those who lived ahead of us and those who will live after us.”