“When Push Comes to Shove: Where will you Stand?” is the theme for the 26th annual Martin Luther King Week for Peace hosted by Xavier, Tulane, Loyola and Dillard Universities, January 16-20, 2012.

Dr. Steve Perry, author and founder and principal of Capital Prep Magnet School in Hartford Connecticut will be the guest speaker. Perry who wrote “Push has come to shove: getting our kids the education they deserve- even if it means picking a fight” will speak on Thursday January 19 at 6:30pm at the MLK Week for Peace Convocation.

Other events for the annual MLK Week for Peace include an Interfaith Service at Dillard University’s Lawless Chapel on Monday January 16, the expressions of Unity/Step off for the Dream at Tulane on Friday January 20 and the MLK Day of Service on Saturday, January 21, at Loyola’s Danna Center

In 1998 Dr. Perry founded ConnCAP, the Connecticut Collegiate Awareness Program, at Capital Community College. For a period of six years, the program sent 100% of its low-income first-generation graduates to four-year colleges. Then in 2004 Capital Preparatory Magnet School was established in Hartford, Connecticut’s lowest performing district, and since its inception that school, too, has sent 100% of its graduates to four-year colleges!

Capital Prep has been recognized by US News & World Report as one of America’s Best High Schools. Dr. Perry’s uncompromising, no-excuses approach to designing the ideal educational experience for children led to his being featured on CNN’s documentary “Black in America” and from there to an official role as a weekly education contributor to the network. His “Perry’s Principles” and other reportage, regularly seen on both Anderson Cooper 360 and American Morning, tackles the most contentious issues being debated in American education.

Perry is a columnist for Essence magazine, and the author of the bestselling self-published book Man Up!

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

26th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Week for Peace

January 16-21, 2012

“When Push Comes to Shove: Where Will You Stand?”

Given today’s economic, educational, and political crisis, America’s burden to correct our current social ills will lie heavily on the shoulders of our youth. What legacy are we leaving? How will we educate them to meet these new global realities? How can we come together as a human race, considering the political climate we find ourselves in? When push comes to shove, where will you stand? Will we get stuck in the mudslinging and divisive meandering or sprint forward to making a stand for the future and for our children? The choice is yours. How will you make a difference?

Monday, January 16, 2012

INTERFAITH SERVICE- Dillard University
Lawless Chapel 6:00 pm

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

MLK CONVOCATION –Xavier University
University Center Grand ballroom, 3rd Floor

5:30 pm- 6:15pm-Opening Reception- Ballroom Foyer
6:30 pm- 8:30 pm– MLK Convocation

• Lifetime Achievement Award
• Student Community Service Awards

Speaker- Dr. Steve Perry
Founder of Capital Preparatory Magnet School
CNN Education Contributor

Author of the forthcoming education bestseller Push Has Come to Shove (Crown Publishing, Sept. 2011), which has been praised by news anchor Soledad O’Brien as “brilliant…a must-read and a must-apply”…entertainer/education activist Bill Cosby as “pure gold” …and former NY City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein as “stellar and powerful.” Former Washington D.C. Schools Chancellor Michele Rhee says of Push Has Come to Shove, “It should be read by everyone who wonders what’s wrong with our schools” while “Waiting for Superman” director Davis Guggenheim, also a huge fan of the book, calls Perry “a powerhouse.”

Friday, January 20, 2012

EXPRESSIONS OF UNITY / Step Off for the Dream
TulaneUniversity, McAlister Auditorium
7:00pm

MLK Student Event
9:30 – 12:00 pm-
Loyola University, Danna Center- ST Charles Room

Saturday, January 21, 2012

MLK DAY OF SERVICE
Community Service Day –
Loyola University
Danna Center
8:00 am – 3:00 pm – Staging

For more information on the Xavier/Tulane/Loyola/Dillard Martin Luther King Week for Peace events, call 504-520-5450 or 865-5181.