DeKalb | When Mitchell Gaddis received a letter from United States Congressman Danny Davis (D-Ill.) confirming an NIU visit, Gaddis decided it couldn’t just be tossed into a wastebasket.

Gaddis, the executive director of NIU’s chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, decided to frame the letter from Davis, who will speak to NIU students at 6:30 p.m. today in Stevenson Hall North’s Multi-Purpose Room.

Davis, the Democratic representative from Illinois’ 7th district, will first speak on black identity and will later be made an honorary inductee of NIU’s NAACP chapter, Gaddis said. The induction will take place at 8 p.m. today in Neptune Central.

Gaddis emphasized, however, that Davis’ visit was not only for the benefit of NAACP members.

“We want more of the campus to come out,” Gaddis said. “This is a U.S. congressman who deals with issues of minimum wage, oversight and government reform.”

Gaddis originally intended Davis’ NIU visit for the Martin Luther King march. Davis, however, was in Washington at the time and promised to visit in February.