EUGENE–Gov. John Kitzhaber will deliver the University of Oregon’s Convocation 2000 keynote speech on diversity and higher education challenges at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 19, in the Ballroom of the Erb Memorial Union, 1222 E. 13th Ave.

Kitzhaber’s talk will explore "our very human habit of establishing artificial demarcations to separate one thing from another" and imposing significance on it–as in marking off time into centuries and millennia or segmenting elementary, secondary and higher education from each other.

"When we single out those who are culturally or ethnically different," Kitzhaber explains, "and treat them differently because they are different, we’re doing exactly the same thing: making superficial distinctions. And that is the most dangerous distinction of all, because it blinds us to the great underlying bond of our common humanity."

The public is invited to the address and following reception, considered the centerpiece event in the campus celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Convocation, a centuries-old university tradition, includes a processional of faculty in full academic regalia.

The Oregon Wind Ensemble, conducted by Timothy Reynolds, an adjunct instructor of music, and the University Singers, conducted by Richard Clark, associate professor of music, will perform at the Convocation. The University Gospel Ensemble, led by Cedric Weary, an adjunct instructor of music, will perform at the reception afterwards.

The Black Student Union will kickoff the campus remembrance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day with two events on Tuesday, Jan. 18. The public is invited to their annual Birthday Celebration and Unity Walk at 6 p.m. in the Alumni Lounge of Gerlinger Hall, 1468 University St., and to the Candlelight Vigil held at 9 p.m., also on Tuesday, in the Amphitheater of the Erb Memorial Union.

The final event in the celebration, "Lawyers and Civil Rights: Mississippi in the 1960s," includes a film and panel discussion by prominent practicing attorneys at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 25, in Room 184 of the Knight Law Center, 1515 Agate St. The free public event will spotlight the role played by 25 Oregon lawyers–one-third of them UO law school alumni–who served in Mississippi with the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law that was chartered by the U.S. president to address civil rights abuses in the South. A reception will follow.

For information on the School of Law event, call Merv Loya, an assistant dean and law professor, (541) 346-3847. For information on the Convocation and Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration, contact Dave Hubin, executive assistant president, 346-3036.

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