He delivered the speech in 1963.

I have come to the conclusion that one of the most important roles for higher education is to prepare students to live and work with people who are different from themselves--to make sure that difference is viewed as an enriching experience rather than a threatening one.

As the nation celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, I'm left to ponder my own existence juxtaposed against his prophetic words on a late August day in 1963.

Watch and read the iconic address.

How quickly we have forgotten that Martin Luther King stood not only head and shoulders above color and class disparity, he became the mountain top. King had a dream and he embodied it. How did he do this?