To students, faculty, and staff,

America has “come a long, long way” in ending racial inequality “but we have a long, long way to go—north and south—if this problem is to be solved in our nation. We don’t need to look very far to see that. We can only open our newspapers morning after morning and turn on our televisions day after day and we can see in glaring terms that this problem is still with us.”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday we celebrate today, spoke these words more than a half century ago, right here in Brunswick. More than 1,100 members of the Bowdoin and Brunswick communities were packed into First Parish Church that day—May 6, 1964—to hear Dr. King describe the progress and challenges of the civil rights movement. His words still ring true.

By agreement with the King Center in Atlanta, a recording of Dr. King’s talk is available today and through the month of February on the Bowdoin website​. I encourage everyone to take the time to listen to the entirety of his remarks and to reflect on the work that remains.

I hope you’ve had a wonderful time with family and friends over the holidays and that you will return to campus next week well rested and ambitious for the semester ahead. I’m excited to get started.

Sincerely,

Clayton