With the sunlit blues, greens, and yellows of the multi-story stained glass windows of the Chapel of the Resurrection behind him, singer Wilfred Akanbi launched the Valparaiso University community into an emotional celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day with his performance of “Glory” on Monday morning.
The performance gave chills to rival the bitter single-digit temperatures that didn’t stop the community from filling the chapel as it has done on this day for over 30 years.
“Instead of taking this day off and reflecting on the cause in isolation, we choose to gather,” said Ryan Blevins, dean of students.
He told those gathered that this year’s celebration took its theme from a speech King gave in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1957 when he said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” Blevins then gave the floor to VU’s 20th president, Rev. Brian Konkol, who told the audience, “We pause because there is power in the pause.”
Konkol spoke of the Lutheran tradition of freedom and said “neighbor” is not a noun, but a verb. He called on people to surround themselves not just with those who look and think like themselves.
Marissa Harris then treated the audience to another musical selection, “Rise Up,” in a secondary theme of musical performance that wove through the program. “I’ll rise up in spite of the anger and I’ll do it a thousand times again,” she sang. “The silence isn’t quiet.”
State Rep. Ragen Hatcher, D-Gary, accepts the 2026 Community Drum Major Instinct award from Dean of Students Ryan Blevins following her speech at the Valparaiso University MLK Day convocation program at the Chapel of the Resurrection on campus in Valparaiso, Indiana, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. Kim Boone-Johnson, director of counseling at VU and longtime friend of Hatcher, is at left. (Andy Lavalley/for the Post-Tribune)
Three readings excerpted from works by King, Bryan Stevenson, and John Lewis were performed by VU students, followed by a long, rousing rendition of “We Shall Overcome” performed by the VU CommUNITY Choir with accompaniment by the CommUNITY Choir Band. The singers, from young to old, exuberant to timid, started off the song with clapping and soon the audience was joining in.
Lisa Jennings was presented with the 2026 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award for her significant contributions of empathy, justice, and service. VU Gospel Choir Director Shantée Lewis sang “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” before keynote speaker, VU alumna, and Indiana House Representative for the 3rd District, Ragen Hatcher was introduced.
Her father Richard G. Hatcher was the first black mayor of a major American city, elected in 1967. Ragen Hatcher said the last time she was at the front of the chapel was when her late father, a law professor at VU Law School, hooded her upon her graduation. Like their father, Hatcher and her two sisters became lawyers.
She served as director of the Federal Tax Clinic her last two years at VU and said, “returning home is very personal.” Hatcher said King’s question of “What are you doing for others?” still demands an answer nearly 70 years later.
State Rep. Ragen Hatcher, D-Gary, speaks with President Rev. Brian Konkol during the Valparaiso University MLK Day convocation program at the Chapel of the Resurrection on campus in Valparaiso, Indiana, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (Andy Lavalley/for the Post-Tribune)
“He knew that moral advancement is not inevitable,” she said, citing a slew of issues from assaults on civil rights to the erosion of diversity, equity, and inclusion, to the othering of immigrants. “Rights once secured are not permanently guaranteed.”
Hatcher said being a good neighbor is one of the most demanding, ethical commitments we can make. She cited her experience in the “super-minority” in the Statehouse as a personal example, “because rights are safeguarded only when good people choose to stand in the rooms where decisions are being made.”
She offered encouragement in the fact that her father served as campaign manager for Jesse Jackson’s two runs for the White House in 1984 and ‘88. He may not have won, but “20 years later, we welcomed the presidency of Barack Obama . . . Progress often begins long before it is recognized.”
She told the audience voting rights are under threat, educators are targeted for telling the truth, and immigrants are treated as threats instead of neighbors.
“These conditions are not accidental,” she said, and called on people to vote, teach, lead and listen, and “turn darkness into light by telling the truth.”
Delsue Minfield, 73, claps during the Valparaiso University MLK Day convocation program at the Chapel of the Resurrection on campus in Valparaiso, Indiana, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. Minfied, of Valparaiso, said her grandmother took part in the Bloody Sunday march in Selma, Alabama that ultimately spurred the passage of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965. (Andy Lavalley/for the Post-Tribune)
Then she was honored with the 2026 Community Drum Major Instinct Award for “the human desire to be out front to lead.”
The program seemed to have the desired effect on the newest members of the campus community. “I really liked the musical selections that they did,” said freshman mechanical engineering major Mason de Bie, “especially the first one.”
“I really enjoyed it,” said freshman chemistry major Cooper Scroggin. “It made me feel inspired I could do something. It calmed me in a nice way.”
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
