Martin Luther King Jr. Day
January 16, 2025
Dear Stony Brook Campus Community,
During Martin Luther King Jr.’s extraordinary life, many of the historic speeches he delivered were, in fact, delivered on university campuses. From Howard University to Antioch, Michigan State to Cornell, private to public, it was the college campus that often provided the backdrop for his visionary messages. As a historian and lifelong educator, I believe this has a special layer of meaning. Education was — and remains — integral to building a more just and vibrant world. It is on college campuses that ideas are borne, minds are changed, and the status quo is questioned.
One of my favorite sermons by Dr. King is “The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life,” which he delivered on several occasions, including at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1955. In it, he contends that “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”
Throughout “The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life,” Dr. King reminds us of the too-often forgotten importance of service to others in creating a meaningful life. “How can one avoid being depressed when he sees with his own eyes millions of people going to bed hungry at night?” he said. “How can one avoid being moved and concerned when he sees with his own eyes millions of people sleeping on the sidewalks at night?” he asked the community at Southern University that fall day in 1955. And I pose the same question to you — our community at Stony Brook University on this winter day, almost seventy years later.
Today, in 2025, we must continue to fight for a just and fair world. As division spreads, there are individuals who seem resolutely determined to punish people for the very facts of who they are. Yet we can strongly resist this by reaching beyond ourselves — by expanding our perspectives rather than narrowing them and by helping all members of our society succeed.
This institution is defined by its commitment to service — through healthcare, advocacy, community building, and continued educational outreach throughout the region. But as members of an academic campus, we must serve others not just as a collective but as individuals, in our daily lives. In our increasingly rapid world, it can feel like everybody is looking to gain no matter the cost, and that simply helping someone else is at odds with our societal pace. But we know this is not the case at our public universities. Rather, looking outward and serving the world is part of what a great public research university stands for. As a renowned creator of new knowledge, Stony Brook has the special opportunity to set an example for generations to come. I believe that is why we are here. That is why we come to campus every day with resolve, purpose, and integrity.
So on this Martin Luther King Jr. Day and every day, let us honor Dr. King’s legacy by asking ourselves, what are we doing for others? I am glad to be at Stony Brook, where we are working together to answer this question and, in so doing, live his values.
Sincerely,
Richard L. McCormick
Interim President