Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 21 December 2006 — Page 27

The Muncie Times • December 21, 2006 • Page 27

TO BE EQUAL Longtime Xavier University, La., president receives Presidential Medal of Freedom

Marc H. Morial president and CEO of the National Urban League.

By Marc H. Morial Xavier University’s Dr. Norman Francis, the longest-serving college president in the nation, was recently chosen to receive the highest honor granted a civilian: the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Few Americans deserve this honor as much as Dr. Francis, who in 2005 was recognized by the National Urban League as a living legend, at our annual conference in Washington, D.C. His commitment to the education of African Americans in the fields of pharmacology, science and pre-med is unparalled. Xavier, one of the first and longest-standing participants in our Black Executive Exchange Program, graduates more black pharmacists, scientists and aspiring doctors than any institution nationwide. The university has accounted for roughly onequarter of black pharmacists practicing in the United States and more future African American doctors than any other undergraduate school. “These are the sorts of things that happen in one's lifetime that you never expect," Dr. Francis told the New Orleans Times Picayune recently. "I accept it for all the people who made this possible, whose shoulders I'm standing on and who helped me be encouraged to work hard and to serve the career that I chose. They all are part of this award.

It's not for me alone." The parents of Dr. Francis, born in Lafayette, La., in 1931, knew their son was destined to go places. They did all they could to send him to St. Paul Catholic elementary and secondary schools. Though a barber and homemaker of modest means, they made great sacrifices to give their son the best education possible. And Dr. Francis more than delivered on his promise, first earning a bachelor's degree from Xavier in 1952 and then a juris doctorate from Foyola University Law School, where he was the first African American student. He couldn’t stay in the dorms at Loyola because he was black. So he lived at his alma mater, serving as dean of men until 1956 when he joined the U.S. Army’s Third Armored Division. He returned to his old job and then in 1963 he was promoted to director of student personnel services. By 1968, Dr. Francis took the helm of nation’s only historically black Catholic university. Over his nearly 40-year tenure, Xavier grew at an unprecedented clip. The campus became known as Emerald City for its lavish green landscaping and housed a $15 million library, a 430-bed $13 million dorm and a $23-mil-lion science complex, including a School of Pharmacy. From 1999 to 2005, enrollment

increased 35 percent, to more than 4,000 students. About 470 graduates were accepted to medical schools. But in August 2005, Hurricane Katrina changed everything. Not only was the first floor of Dr. Francis’ house reduced to “nothing but studs and walls”. The university he led sustained major water and wind damage, he recalled to Tavis Smiley in 2005. Floods resulting from breached levees in Katrina’s aftermath rushed in, deluging the Xavier campus and damaging every building. That 5 years earlier Congress had passed legislation exempting private colleges and universities from Federal Emergency Management Administration aid didn’t help matters much. Xavier, which has a small endowment and whose students depend heavily on government aid, faced footing the bill for its own Katrina recovery. But that didn’t deter Dr. Francis. He not only brought his university back to working order, he answered the call of his state by accepting the chairmanship of the Fouisiana Recovery Authority. In this capacity, he has figured prominently in efforts to help Gulf Coast residents rebuild their lives in Katrina’s wake. Dr. Francis championed the notion that New Orleans could be restored not only to its former but a greater glory, challenging those

who advocated shrinking the city’s footprint after the storm. “One thing that you can't kill is the spirit and the dedication that people have and we got a lot of people who are dedicated to making this a different state and every city a different place. "We hope to use this opportunity to make this state and our cities better than what they once were. It's not going to be easy,” he told Smiley in the 2005 interview. Xavier’s president has received commendation from countless prominent figures, including Nelson Mandela, President Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Jesse Jackson and Pope John Paul II and has acquired numerous honorary degrees. He joins the late John “Buck” O’Neil, who up until his death served as the Negro Feagues” chief historian and also became the first black coach in the major leagues, the great B.B. King, literacy crusader Ruth Johnson Colvin, historian and journalist Paul Johnson and Nobel Prize-winning scientist Joshua Federberg, in receiving the medal. Previous winners include Bill Cosby, Hank Aaron

and Pearl Bailey. The Presidential Medal of Freedom was first established by President Harry S. Truman in 1945 to recognize people who helped American interests overseas. In 1963, it evolved, by Executive Order from President John F. Kennedy, into an honor recognizing civilian contributions by Americans in the arts, sports, politics, business and other arenas. Describing Dr. Francis’ contributions, Donald Powell, the federal coordinator of Gulf Coast rebuilding for the Bush administration, told the Times Picayune that “nobody has done as much for mankind”toward bettering the world around him. I must concur. He gives inspiration and hope to the world that it is possible to emerge from the ashes of disaster — or in this case the waters of Fake Ponchartrain stronger than ever." Marc H. Morial is president and CEO of the National Urban League. He can be contacted at To Be Equal, 120 Wall St., New York City, NY 10005, orwww.nul.org