Campus groups to unite in a silent march at WSU

Wednesday event inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.

Man, 68, drowns at Caesar Creek Lake
5/26/12
Water rescues prompt warning from health officials
5/25/12
Beach Waterpark sued for failure to deliver
5/25/12
Raleigh Trammell’s defense opens in felony trial
5/25/12
UD to move satellite campus to Dublin
5/25/12
> More headlines

By Kelli Wynn, Staff Writer Updated 8:43 AM Monday, January 16, 2012

FAIRBORN — The students marching Wednesday in Wright State University’s First Annual MLK Unity March and Rally hope their silent march will speak volumes to the community.

“The silence symbolizes the missing voices that are not fully recognized as valued members of our society,” said Aaron Stokes, 22, president of the student organization called Black Student Union. Some of these people are people with disabilities, minorities, women, and members of the LGBTQA community. “This is to bring awareness to our campus and the community about the people who are being discriminated against (in society).”

The community is invited to join the silent march and rally on Wednesday. The march will start from five different locations at 12:15 p.m. The starting points for the march include the Russ Engineering Center, the Paul Laurence Dunbar Library, The Woods dorm, College Park on campus apartments and Forest Lane, on campus apartments.

The march will end at the big red sculpture that WSU students refer to as B.A.R.T (Big Artsy Red Thing) where a photo will be taken before the crowd moves to the student union for the rally.

The march is being held on Wednesday because that is one of the days of the week where the university sees a high volume of traffic, Stokes said.

Besides the Black Student Union, the other student organizations hosting the event include Student Government, University Activities Board, Rainbow Alliance, Greek Affairs Council, Residential Community Association,and students and staff of the Bolinga Multi-Cultural Center.

“We were looking for a way to incorporate all the various groups or organizations on campus who are underrepresented,” said Stokes, a senior studying biomedical engineering, of one of the reasons for the march. “We came together and thought about having a unity march.”

The idea behind the march comes from the words of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in a Letter From a Birmingham Jail, which was written to his fellow clergymen in 1963.

“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

For more information, contact Galen Crawford at (937) 216-1027.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2414 or kelli.wynn@coxinc.com.

Share this article