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Kouri Marshall hopes to change a community's atmosphere with a street sign.

Marshall chairs a student committee with the goal to get a Carbondale street renamed to honor Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King.

"I think this would be a long-lasting signal that Carbondale believes in justice, believes in the things Martin and Coretta fought for," said Marshall, a graduate student studying public administration.

Marshall said the committee had not formally met, but had informally discussed Oakland Avenue as a candidate for renaming. The committee has yet to determine the exact name change to be proposed, Marshall said.

City Manager Jeff Doherty said proposals to change street names must be submitted to his or the mayor's office in writing and voted upon by the city council. However, Doherty said the student committee had not spoken to anyone affiliated with the city about the proposal.

"(Changing street names) doesn't happen often, but it's not unique," Doherty said. "We've done so twice in probably the last 10 years or so. It's something that happens and it's not impossible by any means."

Marshall said the committee would seek more student members and the support of Undergraduate Student Government before it submitted the proposal to the city.

Vincent Hardy, a sophomore from Chicago studying marketing and finance, is a member of the committee and a USG senator.

Hardy said he wrote a resolution in support of the committee's goal and USG would vote upon the resolution at a meeting Wednesday night.

"Once we gain the support of USG and the student body, then we'll probably talk to a couple of key administrators on campus," Hardy said. "Then we'll talk to the city."

Doherty said the cost of renaming a street would be insignificant to the city. Businesses and residents who had to change their addresses, forms and legal documents would find the change more expensive, he said. Community support would be important to the proposal's success, Doherty said.

Carbondale Mayor Brad Cole said the city was developing guidelines to govern the dedication of street names, but said some Carbondale streets had been named after prominent African Americans in the community.

The last street renaming occurred when the city changed Green Street to James and Thelma Walker Avenue in 2003, Cole said.

Cole said he would not comment on specific street names because no one from the committee had spoken to him. However, he said previous dedications had focused on people with local impact.

"We don't just change street names because we feel like it," Cole said. "It's a complicated issue."

Marshall said he did not anticipate much opposition to the committee's goal and hoped students would get involved.

He added the committee hoped to achieve its goal by April 4, 2008, the 40th anniversary of King's death.

Allison Petty can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 259 or allison.petty@siude.com.

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