SUNY Chancellor spends Earth Day at SUNY Cortland

04/23/2024 

SUNY Chancellor John B. King spent much of Earth Day on the SUNY Cortland campus, where he helped plant a tree, chatted with student leaders, attended a Passover Seder and touted Cortland as a university leader in sustainability.

“When people get depressed about the existential threat of climate change, I think we have to remember that we have the capability to respond, and one of the reasons that I wanted to be at Cortland on Earth Day is because Cortland has responded,” King said.

The chancellor, head of the largest comprehensive public education system in the United States, joined President Erik J. Bitterbaum and dozens of students, faculty and staff Monday, April 22, for a ceremonial tree planting in front of Sperry Center.

Senior biology major Deymiss Caraballo-Bobea shared a brief history of Earth Day and what it means for the SUNY Cortland community before a trio of students lowered the sapling into a hole and King and Bitterbaum tossed in the first shovelfuls of dirt.

“To celebrate Earth Day 2024 we will plant a Sargent Crabapple tree,” Caraballo-Bobea said to the gathering. “Its beautiful, fragrant white flowers will bloom every Earth Day to remind us on the SUNY Cortland campus of our belonging to the earth.”

After the ceremony, King addressed academic department chairs and administrative leaders during Cortland’s bi-annual administrative conference, where he discussed the progress that’s been made fighting threats to the environment, and lauded SUNY Cortland’s “green” achievements. He noted:

• Cortland was the first SUNY campus to go to 100% renewable electricity
• With the opening of Dragon Hall, Cortland became the first public college or university in the state to have a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum residence building, meeting the nation’s highest sustainability standards.
• Cortland is a nationally certified Tree Campus, a pollinator-friendly Bee Campus and a Bicycle-Friendly Campus.
• The campus features energy-saving “no-mow” zones and diverts storm water into two bioswales, filled with native plants.

“I think it’s a great example for our system,” King said. “The work your dining hall has done to reduce waste is a model for the rest of the SUNY system.

He said the goal of the sprawling SUNY system was for all 64 campuses to become carbon neutral, which was going to require the kind of investments and policy changes that Cortland continues to make and other campuses are adopting.

King noted the creation of SUNY first chief sustainability officer position last year. Carter Srickland, the man King named to the post, visited SUNY Cortland earlier this month to tour campus and talk with students, faculty and staff about Cortland’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.

“I am very appreciative of how Cortland has led the way, and now the system is following suit,” King said. “On this Earth Day, let’s look back on the progress we have made and look ahead to the progress that we will make.”

Following the conference, the chancellor met with Student Government Association leaders who updated him on The Big Event, a student-organized annual community cleanup. This year, it was held on Sunday, April 21, the day before Earth Day, drawing 450 student volunteers to 50 work sites in the city of Cortland.

Later that evening, he joined Bitterbaum at a community Seder hosted by students from SUNY Cortland Hillel in Corey Student Union.