America’s longest-serving college president weighs in on the the future of education, race, and more

I'm never totally sure how to "celebrate" Black History Month. There’s no shortage of important changemakers to recognize and honor, but in a world where Black leaders and icons – from Thurgood Marshall to Coretta Scott King – have shaped our country in historic ways, there’s value in celebrating and learning from trailblazers all year round. Their legacies empower our community and challenge us to test the limits of what society has deemed possible, and I want to challenge myself to remember that every day.

Dr. Norman C. Francis is one of these iconic leaders. As America’s longest-serving college president, he has witnessed and influenced decades of history, as he shares in the below interview, republished from Jopwell's digital magazine, The Well. Here, Dr. Francis shares how the future looks to a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient who has spent his life rallying for change.

A Lifetime Of Firsts: The Nation’s Longest-Serving University President Reflects

Celebrated educator and civil rights leader Dr. Norman C. Francis has dedicated his life to creating opportunities for others. Francis, 85, grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana, at a time when school segregation was the norm. His wide range of roles in public and academic life – most notably, as president of his alma mater, Xavier University of Louisiana, from 1968 to 2015 – has given him a unique perspective on what it means to break new ground and fight for equality. Francis has also advised several United States presidents and served as member president of the United Negro College Fund. In 2006, President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the nation’s highest civilian honor. Retired from academia, Dr. Francis still speaks widely, driven by the question: “How do you lift people from where they are to where their talents can bring them?” Here he shares his own journey, vision, and his hopes for future “firsts.”

Jopwell: You are a trailblazer several times over. How did you get your start?

Dr. Norman Francis: I grew up in a diabolical legal system that did not totally value me as a human being entitled to constitutional rights and privileges. Education was one of the keys for escaping from that system. My mother told us every day, “Don’t let anyone say that you’re anything less than good when they won’t allow you to try a coat and a hat on.” She let us know we deserved more! 

Tell us about your earliest experiences being “the first.”

I was the first African-American student in 1952 to be accepted at Loyola University of New Orleans College of Law. [Before school started, another African-American student, Ben Johnson, was also admitted.] There, I met White students who were smart enough to know that the hullabaloo about not admitting Blacks was a fraud. They saw that we had undergraduate degrees and that we were capable of doing the work. This was an important moment in our history: Though my peers’ parents weren’t liberal by any stretch, they were willing to challenge their family principles. One of my closest friends in law school went on to become mayor of the city. He said that he loved his parents but that they had the wrong position about legal segregation of African Americans.

“How do you lift people from where they are to where their talents can bring them?” – Dr. Norman Francis

Law school was one of the greatest experiences of my life, but, externally, it was like living in an oyster shell of exclusionary existence. I respected myself, I knew who I was, and I was friendly with everybody. Some may have seen me and thought, ‘You are one of a kind.’ But no! I would remind myself, ‘You didn’t give legions of others like me an opportunity. That’s why I’m going to get out and flood the city with young adults who are going to get an education.’ 

How did you push for change?

I came straight from the military to work “of counsel” for a leading civil rights law firm in the 60s. It wasn’t pretty. The people who challenged segregation in the community were heroes, but the beatings they took! As a lawyer, I had to represent Xavier students and others who had been arrested and jailed.

I realized that, if there was going to be a permanent change, education was necessary. Over my years working at Xavier, I spent a lot of time in the national scene learning what we needed to do for young people. We know now that it’s not just about equal education. “Separate but equal” was a diabolical system that never intended to be equal. If you were a person of color, you were not going to get the same opportunities that other Americans received. Instead, we needed an equitable distribution of resources. The playing field was neither level nor equal for people of color. If you pour equal amounts of water into unequal glasses, the glasses remain unequal. To change the unequal status, you have to pour, equitably, more water in some glasses than others. 

What were some of the trends you noticed as you advocated for national educational reform?

In the early 80s, I served on President Ronald Reagan’s Commission on Excellence to write on education in high schools – a report described later as “A Nation at Risk.” After looking at this nation’s high schools for a year and a half, we found that young people were not required to take the courses that would prepare them well to graduate from high school. And the “chickens came home to roost.” As we move into 2017, that challenge remains. We’re going into a difficult times. The future depends on closing gaps for those young people who have not been given adequate opportunities to fulfill their God-given talents. 

What challenges do you find yourself up against when rallying for change?

People will say, ‘Well, you’re never going to get people who are lazy to do this or that.’ They paint, unfairly, entire generations on the basis of their ethnic or racial backgrounds. Totally unfair! I’m talking about all Americans – specifically those who need it most. The research says that if you live in a poor neighborhood, you will go to a poor school without adequate resources and you will be poorly educated regardless of color or race. This is about making sure that no matter where you come from, that you have an equitable chance to succeed. 

What advice can you give the Jopwell community about finding the right opportunities in today’s market?

Educate yourself. I’m proud to say that The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Xavier’s students and grads voted us the most highly rated Southern school for workforce preparation. Our message: Use the best of what God has given you to meet the workforce of today.

I often say, “Don’t hit that button that tells you everything you want to know.” Learn how you get from the fractions to algebra. Don’t just count on hitting the button. Know the fundamentals. It sounds old-school, but it works for us. 

Images by Irvin Johnson/courtesy of Xavier University and Dr. Norman Francis

You originally met Barack Obama before his first presidential run. What were your first impressions?

After Hurricane Katrina, our team at Xavier worked 16-hour days, in different cities, in order to reopen the university in four and a half months. [Then-Senator] Obama came down to New Orleans for that first commencement speech in 2006, and he gave a tremendous talk. Then, a year later, the two of us and a driver toured the Ninth Ward [the area that was hit hardest by the storm]. We went to little grammar schools and the like. I got to know him fairly well, as an individual, just walking around. I found him to be down to earth, very bright, and very committed.

We had a mutual appreciation of each other in terms of what we were doing. In his commencement speech, he quoted me as saying that my decision to reopen the school so fast would either be seen as “crazy and stupid” or “bold and visionary.” Since every class has graduated on time, he used that opportunity to say that if you have enough faith in something and you work at it as hard as we did, it pays off. 

There is a lot more trailblazing to be done. Looking ahead, where do we go from here?

Hopefully we’ll have a partnership the likes of which we saw when we galvanized for the civil rights movement. I’m not na?ve: We need men and women of goodwill to stand up for the equitable and human and moral positions we need to take – not partisan, but moral and ethical.

And we need leadership at all levels that will distribute capital resources, to develop equitably, the human capital that we have. We’ve proven that all people perform well when you do so. If you don’t invest in the education of Americans at all levels, you’re asking the less advantaged to provide fiscal resources far beyond their means. With caring and sympathetic approaches and high expectations for students the investment will bring remarkable returns. People may say that’s old fashioned, but I believe we can use that philosophy as a guidepost as we find new methods for enhanced achievements in and for humankind. 

?The Well is the digital magazine of Jopwell, the career advancement platform for Black, Latino/Hispanic, and Native American professionals and students. Subscribe to receive weekly stories and advice in your inbox.