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MCC Daily Tribune

Chancellor King and SUNY Board of Trustees Statement on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day

“This year as we commemorate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and honor his unfinished work and legacy, SUNY reflects on The King Center’s theme for 2025: protecting freedom, justice, and democracy.

“We recall Dr. King’s writing in the Letter from Birmingham in 1964 that, ‘We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.’

“No institution in our society is more important to the future of freedom, justice, and democracy – to building a more equitable, just, and inclusive society for all – than public higher education. At SUNY, we have the privilege of furthering Dr. King’s vision for our nation as we carry out the mission enshrined in our founding legislation to ‘provide to the people of New York educational services of the highest quality, with the broadest possible access, fully representative of all segments of the population.’

“SUNY’s reputation for providing an excellent, affordable higher education is inseparable from our steadfast commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion as one of our institution’s four driving pillars. Every day, our extraordinary faculty recognize the importance of confronting hard truths in our history as a precondition for building a better, more inclusive future. A central pillar of democracy continues to be an informed and active citizenry, and SUNY has undertaken an ambitious agenda of civics and service: from emphasizing the importance of civil discourse across our campuses to making civic discourse a part of every student’s general education curriculum to empowering hundreds of students to engage in paid public service in our communities through the Empire State Service Corps.

“As we reflect on Dr. King’s legacy, we must remember the fight is not over. There is still so much work to be done to ensure that our society is equitable, just, and inclusive. We are committed to ensuring there is a place at SUNY for every New Yorker – and that place is welcoming, inclusive, and embodying of excellence – because that is what living out the legacy of Dr. King truly means.”

 

 

 

 

Patrick Morris
Community Relations
01/21/2025