Notre Dame Law School holds first Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service
The University of Notre Dame announced last fall that, for the first time, Martin Luther King Jr. Day would be a holiday for students, faculty and staff.
With no classes scheduled for the day, all members of the community would be free to honor King’s legacy in their own way. Notre Dame Law School took the opportunity to start a new tradition by giving law students, faculty and staff the option of participating in a variety of service projects throughout the day.
On Monday (Jan. 17), Notre Dame Law School held its first Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service to celebrate the spirit of the civil rights leader’s unwavering fight for racial and social justice.
More than 130 law students, faculty and staff members signed up to spend part of the day volunteering for local nonprofit organizations.
Some of the projects for those organizations were completed by teams inside the Law School buildings, while other volunteers traveled out in the South Bend community to serve the nonprofits on site.
“I am so proud of our students, faculty and staff for their passionate engagement in our inaugural Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service,” said G. Marcus Cole, the Joseph A. Matson Dean and Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School. “Over 100 students and more than 30 faculty and staff gave of themselves to serve those within the South Bend community. These people give meaning to our ideal of ‘a different kind of lawyer.’”
In one of the projects at the Law School, volunteers made no-sew fleece blankets for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Michiana.
Working at tables in Eck Commons, the group turned 200 yards of fleece into 50 warm, colorful blankets for guests of the Ronald McDonald House in downtown South Bend.
At the other end of Eck Commons, volunteers set up an assembly line to package 5,000 meals for Pack Away Hunger.
Also in the Law School, volunteers assembled 45 care kits for Logan Center clients. The kits included art supplies and games as well as toiletries and other personal care items.
Off campus, volunteers assembled tables and deconstructed wood pallets at Corvilla Inc.’s new storefront location, delivered meals to clients of REAL Services Inc., organized the food pantry at St. Margaret's House, did some deep cleaning at St. Peter Claver Catholic Worker House, stocked the food pantry and assembled boxes of food for deliveries at St. Vincent de Paul Society and assisted the Volunteer Lawyer Network with intake and information gathering.
At Cultivate Food Rescue, a group of 20 students, faculty and staff bagged 5,400 meals, processed 400 meals and labeled 2,000 trays. “They were all such a joy to have,” said Shelly Alwine, volunteer services and special events coordinator at Cultivate. “Law students work hard!”
Law School volunteers also collected and delivered donated items for the Center for the Homeless and Dismas House, which provides transitional housing and services for people recently released from incarceration.
“This event was a great opportunity for students, faculty and staff to come together to honor one of our nation’s greatest heroes,” said Stephanie Wong, a third-year law student and president of Notre Dame Law School’s Student Bar Association. “I’m also grateful to make an impact on the local South Bend community during my last year here.”
Click here to see a larger photo gallery from Notre Dame Law School’s inaugural Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.
Originally published by at law.nd.edu on Jan. 18.
Latest Colleges & Schools
- Notre Dame researcher explores how technology can defend democracyGrowing public disenchantment with social media often highlights how it has poisoned political discourse. Critics say its business model leverages negative emotions to maximize user engagement, fueling mistrust and polarization. Keough School of Global Affairs scholar Lisa Schirch sees opportunity in a new class of deliberative technologies and their implications for democracy.
- Keough School establishes two new doctoral programsNotre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs has established two new doctoral programs in sustainable development and peace studies. The peace studies and sustainable development programs will enable doctoral students in the Keough School to examine from different perspectives the intersection of poverty, the environment, violent conflict and peace. Both programs will enroll students beginning in fall 2025.
- Essays on democracy draw attention to critical threats, explore safeguards ahead of Jan. 6Shortly after Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol building, Notre Dame’s Rooney Center for the Study of American Democracy established the January 6th, 2025, Project, which includes 10 Notre Dame faculty who are preeminent scholars of democracy. In an effort to understand the social, political, psychological and demographic factors that led to that troublesome day, the group created a collection of 14 essays aimed at drawing attention to the vulnerabilities in our democratic system and the threats building against it, hoping to create consensus on ways to remedy both problems.
- Graduate students to present research, compete for prize money in annual Three Minute Thesis competitionNine University of Notre Dame graduate students will compete for $4,500 in prize money during the annual Shaheen Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. The competition will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday (Feb. 28) inside Jordan Auditorium at the Mendoza College of Business on campus. It is open to the public.
- Does Russia stand to benefit from climate change?There exists a narrative about climate change that says there are winners and losers — with Russia being one of the countries that stand to benefit from its effects. In a new study, researchers at the University of Notre Dame found that Russia is suffering from a variety of climate change impacts and is ill-prepared to mitigate or adapt to those climate impacts. And, as the rest of the world transitions to renewable energy sources, Russia’s fossil-fuel-dependent government is not willing or ready to make alternative plans for the country, changes that could potentially benefit the whole of their society.
- ‘I’m watching you’ behavior produces racial disparities in school disciplineResearch from Calvin Zimmermann, the O’Shaughnessy Assistant Professor of Education in Notre Dame's Department of Sociology, indicates that early childhood teachers often apply discipline disproportionately in their classrooms based on a student’s race.
