IU Indianapolis cancels annual Martin Luther King, Jr. dinner

IU Indianapolis canceled its annual dinner honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. after hosting the event for nearly 60 years, according to a letter the university’s Black Student Union shared on Instagram.

The annual dinner is generally held around MLK Day in January of each year and was a collaboration between the university and the Black Student Union. In the letter, the student group’s executive board expressed concern that the cancellation is related to “broader political pressures.”

“This is not just about a dinner,” the letter posted Jan. 7 read, in part. “This is about institutional decisions being made without Black voices at the table.”

An IU spokesperson told Mirror Indy the dinner was canceled due to budget restrictions and declined to comment when asked whether the decision was related to the political climate surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion.

“The campus is taking a similar approach with all kinds of cultural events, not just the MLK celebration,” the spokesperson said. “They’re just moving away from dinners overall, recognizing the budget reality that we are facing here in higher ed.”
 

The student group plans to push back against the university’s decision and look for ways to continue the event with community support, according to Kamya Williams, a former Black Student Union president and current executive board member.

“These are challenges that people who look like us have been through before,” Williams said. “We refuse to let history repeat itself, but we will make sure we fight to ensure that our voices are heard.”

Instead of the MLK dinner, the IU spokesperson said, the university will hold a day of service from 1:30-4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 18 on the second floor of University Hall, 301 University Blvd. The event will feature a lunch as well as sessions on restorative justice and the economic power of young Black people.

The college’s first MLK dinner was held in 1969, the year IU and Purdue merged to form IUPUI, according to IU Indianapolis’ website. Over the years, the event has hosted influential Black leaders such as Civil Rights activist and author Angela Davis, astronaut Mae Jemison and Bobby Seale, founder of the Black Panther Party.
 

How did we get here?

IU closed its diversity, equity and inclusion office in May amid political pressure from the state and federal governments. Both the Multicultural Center and the LGBTQ+ Center were initiatives of the now-shuttered diversity office, according to an archived website.

The Multicultural Center housed student organizations focused on culture and identity, according to a now-archived website. The center also helped host the cultural dinners, including the MLK Dinner in January, the César Chávez Dinner in March, the Asian Pacific Islander Desi American American dinner in April and the Harvey Milk Dinner in October.

According to an email sent to students Dec. 16 and obtained by Mirror Indy, an IU staff member wrote that these student organizations were transferred to the Office of Student Involvement, presumably last year, around the time the diversity office shut down.

In the email, the IU employee told students funding for “large-scale programming” was not included when the student organizations transitioned to the Office of Student Involvement.

“Between high venue costs, food costs, keynote speaker accommodations, and supplies, it is clear that we will not be able to deliver these initiatives at this current time,” the staff member wrote in the email.
 

A student involved with the Queer Student Union told Mirror Indy the Harvey Milk Dinner did not happen in October as it had in years past. Representatives from the Latino and Asian student associations at IU Indianapolis could not be reached for comment.

On Jan. 7, the IU spokesperson told Mirror Indy canceling the dinners was an effort from IU to “reimagine its programming around MLK and cultural observances more generally.”

IU Bloomington is hosting a day of service on Monday, Jan. 19, as well as a breakfast where students will speak about what Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy means to them.

Black alumni, students respond

Students and alumni say that the dinner honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. wasn’t just a student event. It was a celebration of the school’s Black community and history.

For alum Chelsea Fitzpatrick, the dinner was a space not just to celebrate Black students, but the Black community in Indy. That’s especially significant, Fitzpatrick said, given that IU displaced a historically Black neighborhood to build IUPUI’s campus.

“In a way, the MLK celebration is a form of Black resistance,” said Fitzpatrick, who served as president of the Black Student Union for two years before she graduated in 2023. “You may have taken away our home, but you can never take away our spirit.”

Williams, a senior at IU Indianapolis, said she’s disappointed by what she sees both as a lack of transparency from the university and as a disinvestment in Black students’ events on campus.

“There’s effort, there’s energy, and there’s heart put into this event,” Williams said. “It’s being just ripped away and taken away.”

Mirror Indy, a nonprofit newsroom, is funded through grants and donations from individuals, foundations and organizations.

Claire Rafford covers higher education for Mirror Indy in partnership with Open Campus. Contact Claire by email claire.rafford@mirrorindy.org, on most social media @clairerafford or on Signal 317-759-0429.