ENROLLED
2022 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 282
BY REPRESENTATIVES GLOVER, BAGLEY, JEFFERSON, JENKINS, PHELPS,
PRESSLY, AND SEABAUGH
A RESOLUTION
To commend Chancellor John K. Pierre, Professor Deleso Alford, and the Southern
University Law Center and all those who have worked to establish the law center's
off-campus instruction site in Shreveport and to commend the initial cohort of
students who completed their final semester of law school at the off-campus site.
WHEREAS, in House Concurrent Resolution No. 24 of the 2019 Regular Session
of the Legislature, the Legislature of Louisiana requested that the Board of Regents study
how the state can best meet the legal education needs of students and the economic and
workforce development needs of the Shreveport-Bossier region, including but not limited
to meeting these needs through establishing a campus of the Southern University Law Center
in Shreveport; and
WHEREAS, Chancellor Pierre of the Southern University Law Center submitted a
plan to the Board of Regents and established a team to develop and implement the off-
campus instruction site in Shreveport; Professor Deleso Alford was tapped as director of the
off-campus instructional site; Professor Alford and her team have taken a phase-in approach
to getting the program started, and with support from the Caddo Parish Commission and the
Shreveport Bar Association, May 21, 2022, marked the successful completion of Phase I;
and
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WHEREAS, on May 21, seven students, Rachel Hughes, Allison Williams, Tiberlee
Barnum, Tanner Yeldell, Jakira Gibson, Kourtnee Jones, and Aja Winslow, recognized by
Chancellor Pierre as the Sagacious Seven, graduated with the rest of their law center
classmates after having completed the final semester of their legal education at the site in
Shreveport; and
WHEREAS, in 1946, World War II veteran Charles J. Hatfield, Jr. graduated from
Xavier University in New Orleans but was denied admittance to LSU's law school because
of his race; motivated by Mr. Hatfield's law suit, Louisiana authorized the creation of a law
school at Southern University Baton Rouge; the first five students admitted to the program,
Alex L. Pitcher, Leroy White, Ellyson F. Dyson, Jesse Stone, and Alvin B. Jones, known as
the Fearless Founding Five, charted a course that fundamentally altered access to legal
education in Louisiana; in the decades since, the need for further expansion of access to legal
education, especially in the Shreveport-Bossier area, has been clearly demonstrated and
directly articulated; and
WHEREAS, Chancellor Pierre, Professor Alford and her team, and many others have
worked hard in response to House Concurrent Resolution No. 24 of the 2019 Regular
Session of the Legislature to make access to high quality legal education in Northwest
Louisiana a reality and are worthy of great commendation and tremendous gratitude; as has
been the case with Mr. Hatfield's legacy, legion will be the beneficiaries, in the coming
decades, of the fruits of their labors.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
Legislature of Louisiana does hereby commend Chancellor John K. Pierre, Professor Deleso
Alford, and the Southern University Law Center and all those who have worked to establish
the law center's off-campus instruction site in Shreveport and does hereby express sincere
gratitude for their contributions to the people and the economy of the Shreveport-Bossier
region.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that of those deserving recognition, certainly not
least are the students who took the risk to try something new, and the House of
Representatives of the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby also commend Rachel Hughes,
Allison Williams, Tiberlee Barnum, Tanner Yeldell, Jakira Gibson, Kourtnee Jones, and Aja
Winslow, the Sagacious Seven standing squarely on the shoulders of the Fearless Founding
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Five, and does hereby express sincere hopes that the chance they took in their final semester
of law school produces a lifetime of rewards.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
Chancellor John K. Pierre of the Southern University Law Center.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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