WHAT: The 16th annual University of Rochester Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Address, co-sponsored by the Office of Minority Affairs and the Office of the President
WHEN/WHERE: Monday, Feb. 29 from 6 p.m.-7:30 p.m. in the Larry and Cindy Bloch Alumni and Advancement Center, 300 East River Road. Admission is free and open to the public and media.
GUEST SPEAKER: Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League and former Mayor of New Orleans, will deliver the address and then take questions from the audience.
ABOUT MORIAL: Marc Morial has been recognized as one of the 100 most influential Black Americans by Ebony magazine. He has been president of the National Urban League, one of the nation’s oldest civil rights organizations, since 2003. During that time, he oversaw a five-year, $280 million fundraising effort and in 2013 launched an historic $100 million, five-year “Jobs Rebuild America: Educate, Employ, Empower” initiative.
He was elected Mayor of New Orleans in 1994 with a promise to “clean out City Hall with a shovel, not a broom.” In eight years in office, his approval rating stayed at or near 70 percent and near 100 percent throughout his term among black residents.
MEDIA OPPORTUNITY: Morial will speak to the media from 3-3:30 p.m. at the Frederick Douglass Leadership House, located off Wilson Boulevard on the Fraternity Quadrangle.
Media should contact Jim Mandelaro by 10 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 29 to confirm attendance for media event and secure parking.
