The Lafayette Parish Council is considering naming the Northeast Regional Library after Lafayette-born civil rights leader Norman C. Francis.
The council to rename the library the Norman C. Francis Library. The 20,500-square-foot facility near the campus of Holy Rosary Institute is expected to open in 2028.
Francis, the then-long-running president of Xavier University in New Orleans, a national civil rights icon and prolific educator, at 94.
He was born in Lafayette on March 20, 1931, during the Great Depression, where he attended St. Paul Catholic for elementary and secondary school. He later relocated to New Orleans to attend Xavier University of h before graduating in 1952.
He later applied to Loyola University’s law school, becoming the school’s first Black student. After Francis got his law degree, he joined the U.S. Army, serving in the Third Armored Division. He later worked on special assignment with the U.S. Justice Department to desegregate federal agencies in major cities.
In 1968, he became president of Xavier, a position he held for 47 years.
Francis has received 42 honorary doctorates and, in 2006, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor. During his lifetime, he served on 54 boards and commissions and advised eight presidents on education and civil rights issues.
A 1986 survey by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education named him one of the 100 most effective college presidents in the country.