Norman Francis
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Norman C. Francis (born March 20, 1931, Lafayette, Louisiana) is the president of Xavier University of Louisiana. He has been Xavier's president since 1968, making him (as of December 2006) the longest-tenured current leader of an American university. He is also the chairman of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, the state agency in charge of planning the recovery and rebuilding of Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita.
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[edit] Biography
Francis earned a B.S. degree from Xavier in 1952. He then became the first African-American to enroll at the Loyola University New Orleans Law School and received his J.D. in 1955.
Francis served in the U.S. Army from 1956-57, and then returned to Xavier as Dean of Men. After holding several other positions at Xavier, he was appointed President in 1968. At Xavier, Francis presided over a major expansion of campus facilities and enrollment growth of 35 per cent.
Francis is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans.
[edit] Civil Rights Era
He and other prominent well-educated African Americans in New Orleans sat out of the Civil Rights movement. Xavier, while he was the Dean of Men, expelled several students who participated in sit ins and other boycotts. When it became popular, he embraced the Civil Rights struggle -- but there isn't one recorded instance where he participated in or encouraged others to protest segregation.
Francis took the road of peacefully engaging the white community in the hopes that he, and others like him, would be accepted in white circles. He counts former New Orleans Mayor Moon Landrieu as a personal friend and the godfather to one of his children.
[edit] Honors and awards
Francis has been chairman of the board of Educational Testing Service, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Southern Education Foundation, and president of the American Association of Higher Education and the United Negro College Fund. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has received 35 honorary degrees.
In December 2006, Francis was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
