My post earlier today about NC State “commemorat[ing] a national holiday with a speaker known for her ‘notoriety’ as a partisan” made me curious about what the other UNC campuses were doing. Here’s what I found. Most UNC schools ? including all the historically black universities ? offered a range of activities open to the communities at large, including parades, marches, candlelight vigils, music, drama, dramatic readings, even prayer breakfasts. A few, however, went the NC State route and brought in partisans.

Here’s what I learned through the various “News & Events” sections of the universities’ web sites:

? East Carolina‘s celebrations included a keynote address by civil rights activist and comedian Dick Gregory.

? Elizabeth City State‘s celebrations included keynote speaker Bismarck Myrick, former U.S. ambassador to Liberia and the Kingdom of Lesotho. Myrick is a decorated war veteran with several years’ experience in government.

? Fayetteville State hosted Capt. Trudy L. Caldwell, U.S. Senate Legislative Liaison for the U.S. Army and FSU alumna and former student body president. FSU also held a concert of music by black composers and dramatic readings of King’s works.

? N.C. A&T featured the drama “The Meeting” in which King meets Malcolm X in a Harlem hotel, and also had games and numerous public-service events to honor King’s memory.

? N.C. Central held a march, a prayer breakfast, and a parade, and also hosted keynote speaker Marc H. Morial, head of the National Urban League.

? UNC-Chapel Hill‘s events included a keynote address by Dr. Benjamin Solomon Carson Sr., director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children’s center.

? UNC-Charlotte‘s celebrations included dramatic readings, a community service project, an arts and crafts fair, a march, a candlelight vigil addressed by UNCC alum and former professional basketball player Pastor Henry Williams, and a “Black and White Celebration Ball.”

? Western Carolina‘s events included a keynote address by Tonya Williams, general counsel of N.C. Senate president pro tempore Marc Basnight.

? Winston-Salem State featured musical performances and dramatic readings by several members of campus and also played video tapes and recordings of King’s speeches and historical moments in the civil rights movement.

Also:

? Appalachian State University featured Chuck D as the keynote speaker of its celebration. The former rapper last year performed at a notorious MoveOn.org fundraiser where he announced “Son of a Bush and his crew is [sic] at it again, because, we do not want 8 years run by a Colon, a Bush and a Dick.” He also said that “Americanization is like McDonaldization” and, according to Matt Drudge, was “[c]ut off, but he appear[ed] to refer to American government under Bush Administration as ‘cancer of civilization.'”

? UNC-Greensboro hosted NAACP head Julian Bond to deliver the keynote address of its celebration. In December, Bond spoke at the 22nd annual “Brotherhood Celebration” at N.C. State, where he spoke of a “right-wing conspiracy” and accused the Republican Party of serving “right wing” extremists, seeking to reverse civil rights gains, and reaching out to what he called “Talibanistic” voters who want to fly a Confederate flag beside the U.S. flag. He noted that in the 2004 presidential elections, all the states of the old Confederacy supported George W. Bush. He said that “[Republicans] have divided more voters than in any other time.”

? UNC-Wilmington‘s featured speaker was Robert Bullard, who is known for his work on “environmental justice” and “environmental racism” and whose books include Highway Robbery: Transportation Racism and New Routes to Equity and Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality.