Dickinson College will commemorate the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday Monday, Jan. 19, with four panel discussions about various aspects of the civil rights leader's life and impact. Each session will be held in the Great Room of the Stern Center on West Louther and West streets. They are free and open to the public.

The discussions will draw upon King's reference to the "triple threats" — racism, war and poverty — as impediments to community building, said Paula M. Lima, interim director of the college's office of diversity initiatives.

"An essential core of Dr. King's beloved community was the commitment to nonviolence," Lima said. "Nonviolence extends beyond merely physical forms but in King's mind included social ills such as the existence of poverty and racism."

The following sessions are scheduled:

• 9:15 a.m. — Opening Remarks. Paula M. Lima.
• 9:30 a.m.-10:45 a.m. — "Martin Luther King Jr: His Leadership, His Faith, His Character." The panel will explore various aspects of King as a radical revolutionary and a man of faith. Participants: Leonard Brown, associate dean of students, and Cotten Seiler, associate professor in American Studies.
• 11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m. — "The Civil Rights Movement's historic and contemporary influences." The panel will examine King's leadership in the Civil Rights Movement and in turn its influence on other social movements. Participants: Susannah Bartlow, director of the Women's Center and Faculty in Women's and Gender Studies; Stephanie Gilmore, assistant professor in Women's and Gender Studies; Jerry Philogene, faculty in American studies; and Wendell Smith, assistant professor in Spanish and Portuguese.
• 1:15 p.m.-2:30 p.m. — "Nonviolence or Nonexistence." The panel will examine King's statement — "there is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence," rather "it is either nonviolence or nonexistence" — against historic and contemporary notions and acts of violence from a conceptual and practical framework. Participants: Bartlow; Christopher Bilodeau, assistant professor in history; Shalom Staub, assistant provost of academic affairs; and Tyson Smith, faculty in sociology.
•  2:45 p.m.-4 p.m. — "MLK & the Poor People's Campaign." The panel will examine the historic and contemporary impact of King's work on poverty, and how to create more equitable economic conditions. Participants: Charles Barone, professor in economics; Brenda Bretz, associate provost for curriculum; Kim Rogers, professor in history and American studies; Seiler.