Celebrating MLK Day & The Service Mission of Public and Land-grant Universities

By APLU President Waded Cruzado

As we celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day earlier this week, I was reminded of the extraordinary legacy of service he left and how that legacy intersects with the mission of public and land-grant universities. Dr. King’s courageous leadership led to some of the greatest societal progress in our country’s history and has inspired generations of others to follow his example of service and is why MLK Day is a national day of service.

A parallel ethos of public service is written into the history of public and land-grant universities. They were founded with the mission to serve the public – educating the children of toil, as Senator Justin Morrill put it in making the case for the Morrill Act.

Education is at the heart of that mission. By democratizing higher education, public and land-grant universities have unleashed the potential of tens of millions of students from all backgrounds. For generations, institutions have transformed students from ordinary backgrounds into teachers, nurses, doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs, and business leaders who fuel progress in our society. Higher education has the power not just to change the trajectory of a graduate’s life, but to change the course of their family’s life and the wellbeing of entire communities. 

The success of communities across the country is inextricably tied to the impact public and land-grant universities’ education, research, and community engagement. As we honor Dr. King’s legacy, public and land-grant universities have a vital role in carrying his ethos of public service forward in a manner that benefits and lifts up all.