Statement by SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher on U.S. Supreme Court Ruling
June 23, 2016
"As public universities, we have a responsibility to our students to ensure that the demographics on our campuses and in our classrooms mirror that of the society in which they live and the workforce they will become a part of. This is the very reason SUNY recently put in place a sweeping new diversity policy that we believe will help us become the most inclusive system of higher education in the country.
"While not often the deciding factors, race and ethnicity are some of the many considerations taken into account as colleges and universities decide whether a student should be enrolled. Today's Supreme Court decision upholding this practice at the University of Texas at Austin affirms diversity and inclusion as a meaningful, worthwhile, and absolutely necessary priority in public higher education."
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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