IU is carrying its dedication to diversity beyond ink on paper, beyond words that fade into silence. A $26 million commitment in limestone, glass and plaster will unite African American culture and the performing arts at IU when the Theatre/Neal-Marshall Education Center is dedicated tomorrow. The 2 p.m. ceremony marks a commitment that should make every member of the IU community proud. \n The center is symbolic of unity among people who share an appreciation for expression that enriches all who see it. Neither color, background nor belief bar anyone from feeling goosebumps when a performer hits the perfect high note, or laughing when an actor nails a line. \n The center will house performance space for the IU Soul Revue, the African American Choral Ensemble and the African American Dance Company. Plays that used to take place in the T300 and University Theatre will be staged in the new center. Black Student Union offices and the African-American library will move from the fringes of campus to its heart. \nThe implications of this dedication are great for African-American students at IU. The University has come a long way since areas of the Indiana Memorial Union Commons were designated for black people to eat. Since there was a special pool for colored people. Since the barber in the IMU refused to cut the hair of African Americans. Former IU president Herman B Wells had the signs in the Commons removed with little fanfare until all students filtered throughout the area with scant regard to previous boundaries. He swam in the black pool and strongly suggested that the barber cut every strand of hair seeking his service. \nWells established intolerance for ignorance, smoothing the path for African-American innovators to build IU into the institution so many love. Emeritus professor of Afro-American Studies Herman Hudson, George Taliferro and former director of the African American Choral Ensemble James Mumford (to name a few) have contributed energy and talent to building academics, athletics and the arts at IU. \nTheir contributions are part of the fabric of the University -- not to be separated from IU's symbols of identity. Like the Sample Gates or Indiana Memorial Union, this building, distinctive in style and notable in function, will become another point of pride. A building that unites, bridges and bonds. One that will place focus where it deserves to be: on the beauty of artistic expression rather than its color.
The dedication will take place at 2 p.m. Friday in the building's Ruth N. Halls Theatre. All are welcome for the dedication and after it's over, the invitation to the Center stands.
