Martin Luther King Celebration
Texas State Capitol
January 19, 2004
Good morning. It is truly an honor for me to join you today in celebration of the life and achievements of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was a remarkable leader who transformed the world through his dream of justice and equality for all.
Today I would like to talk about taking dreams into action.
My first speech as president of UT was delivered at the King celebration six years ago. At that time, higher education in Texas was under the burden of the Hopwood legal decision, which had eliminated affirmative action at our state's universities and colleges. I referred to Hopwood in my first speech when I said, "The University is at the center of our nation’s great public debate over racial equality and how to achieve it."
The debate continues. But I am happy to report that Hopwood is over and The University of Texas has been freed by the U. S. Supreme Court to use affirmative action in admissions and recruitment of students.
The Hopwood years were disadvantageous to the University, but we did not give up hope -- and we did not stop working hard to make educational opportunity available to all Texans. We began to visit high schools with large minority populations to offer scholarships to students who were graduating in the top 10 percent of their class. Often these students were not considering The University of Texas -- or even any college -- in their future. I'm pleased to say that our efforts were successful. Since 1999 we have given more than 1,100 of these scholarships to deserving students. And the students are doing well at The University of Texas at Austin.
But today I ask two favors of you. I ask the friends who are gathered here -- and everyone you share this story with -- to help me deliver an important two-part message to the students of Texas.
As I visit high schools around the state, I have discovered that many of the students -- even those at the top of the class, those who are academically best prepared -- do not really grasp the importance of a college education for themselves, their families, and their communities. They do not fully understand its elevating spirit and economic power. I ask you to help to consistently emphasize that tremendous value to academically talented young people, wherever they are.
The second part of the message is about money, which is, for sure, a problem for many students. When I walk into their schools and tell these outstanding minority students that we can make their education happen -- that we can make it accessible and affordable -- they often have trouble believing me. It sounds too good to be true. But the truth is that we -- and other colleges and universities in Texas -- do just that every day.
When Martin Luther King was a 19-year-old student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, he wrote a speech entitled "The Purpose of Education," in which he said, "Education must enable a man . . . to achieve with increasing facility the legitimate goals of his life." (He was including women, too, but used the male pronoun.)
Dr. King understood the central importance of education in shaping who we become. He was an educated man and he valued what the great leaders and great minds of history had taught him. If he traveled with me on these visits to the high schools of Texas, he would step forward and he would help me to convince students that a university experience will be invaluable to them, to their future, and to their family. And he would emphasize the reality of the possibility.
Dr. King cannot join me in this effort -- except in spirit -- so I ask you to help me instead. I am asking everyone in this audience to help me more fully represent the importance of a college education to the young African-Americans and Mexican-Americans of our state. I am asking you to spread the word that The University of Texas at Austin and other colleges and universities in Texas are committed to providing greater access and opportunity to the minority community. I am asking you to help me develop within the minority families of this state a greater faith that the money can be managed -- that finances should not be a bar to a college degree -- that the University will come to the aid of those who have studied hard in high school and are prepared to accept the challenge of the next level. My message is clear: "We are willing and prepared to provide the same financial assistance to you that we provide to thousands of students at our university. Please come and take advantage of this offer."
On this 75th birthday anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I invite you all to the UT campus to view his magnificent statue on the east mall. He is wearing the robes of a scholar, an educator, a pastor; and he greets us with the outstretched hand of a teacher making a point to his students. Among the many lessons he taught us is that education can help us to fulfill a dream. That dream is often as close as a university campus, perhaps the one just a few blocks behind us. As Dr. King once said, "Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children." As president of The University of Texas at Austin, I open our doors to the minority students of Texas and say, "This is your university. Come. It is long past time."
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