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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, January 19, 1993                   TAG: 9301190119
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: New River Valley bureau
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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QUIET COMMEMORATIONS MARK KING BIRTHDAY

At the New River Valley's universities this week, students celebrated Martin Luther King's birthday quietly, holding candles and offering prayer.

"We do it to commemorate Martin Luther King's life, to celebrate his memory, his work," said Travis Williamson, chairman of the Black Student Affairs Council at Radford University.

At Radford Mondayn, a choir sang and students lighted candles and stood around the fountain at the heart of campus.

Virginia Tech's celebration Friday night brought out 75 people to Squires student center, said Derrick Bell, president of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

And at Tech's Memorial Chapel, students stopped by throughout the day Monday to offer a silent prayer.

"This is a place where people can express grief or whatever feelings they have," said Naomi Wilson-Nicely, Memorial Chapel manager.

Tech has celebrated Martin Luther King's birthday for the past eight years.

About five years ago, the memorial services in King's honor seemed to outgrow the 250-seat chapel; they were moved to larger rooms on campus.

That's when the chapel began offering the prayer vigil, lighting candles on the altar, and placing a poster of King on an easel nearby.

"This is a statement that we care," she said. "This is our way of showing . . . that we all support his dreams."

By Monday afternoon, about 60 students, most of them white, had come from different campus prayer groups to take their seats in the chapel.

There was not someone there every hour, as Wilson-Nicely had hoped.

"We like to keep track of how many come in," she said. "But we'd probably do this if only one person came. It's important."

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