Statement from Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher on the Supreme Court’s Decision Regarding Same-sex Marriage
June 26, 2015
“The SUNY family stands proudly with all New Yorkers and Americans as we celebrate today’s groundbreaking Supreme Court decision that same-sex couples across the nation do indeed have the right to marriage. With the leadership of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the legislature, our state has helped pave the way toward this monumental ruling.
"Higher education thrives on an unequivocal commitment to diversity of ideas, beliefs, race, nationality, and sexual orientation. Today we rejoice in that diversity with the countless students, faculty, staff, and alumni who have benefitted from a SUNY education and can now live their lives to the fullest no matter where they live in the United States.
"Martin Luther King Jr. once said ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but bends towards justice.’ America is now further down the positive, inclusive side of that arc, and the State University will do all that it can to ensure that the spirit of this ruling – equality for the LGBTQ community – is clear and strong throughout our system.”
About the State University of New York
The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, and more than 95 percent of all New Yorkers live within 30 miles of any one of SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities. Across the system, SUNY has four academic health centers, five hospitals, four medical schools, two dental schools, a law school, the country’s oldest school of maritime, the state’s only college of optometry, and manages one US Department of Energy National Laboratory. In total, SUNY serves about 1.4 million students amongst its entire portfolio of credit- and non-credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs. SUNY oversees nearly a quarter of academic research in New York. Research expenditures system-wide are nearly $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2023, including significant contributions from students and faculty. There are more than three million SUNY alumni worldwide, and one in three New Yorkers with a college degree is a SUNY alum. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunities, visit suny.edu.
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Holly Liapis
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