Southeastern NEWS
                                                       Southeastern Louisiana University
                                           Public Information Office
                                           SLU 10880, Hammond, LA 70402
                                           504-549-2341/fax 504-549-2061
                                           
    Date: November 13, 2000
      Contact:                           Rene Abadie     1


DENHAM SPRINGS ATTORNEY CALVIN FAYARD JR.
TO BE HONORED AS SOUTHEASTERN 'GOLDEN AMBASSADOR'

     HAMMOND   Denham Springs attorney Calvin C. Fayard Jr. will be honored as a
Southeastern Louisiana University Golden Ambassador at the university's Alumni Awards
Evening on Friday  (Nov. 17).
     A 1965 graduate of Southeastern and a former president of the university's Alumni
Association, Fayard is being honored for his key role in leading the litigation team in the
Combustion, Inc. environmental class action suit. The precedent-setting suit was settled on
behalf of more than 10,000 Livingston Parish residents. In his decision, U.S. District Judge
Richard T. Haik Sr., of the Lafayette-Opelousas Division of the Western District of Louisiana,
awarded $4.5 million in residual settlement funds to Southeastern to help establish and operate
the Livingston Parish Literacy and Technology Center. The center will be operated in
cooperation with the Livingston Parish School Board.
     The Golden Ambassador Award was established by Southeastern President Sally Clausen in
1996 to honor outstanding service, achievement and/or humanitarian efforts. Fayard will be the
fourth individual honored as a Golden Ambassador. He was nominated for the award by J.
Rogers Pope, superintendent of the Livingston Parish School System, who cited his "visionary
thinking, tenacious actions, and affinity for Southeastern."
     "Mr. Fayard was a unanimous choice of the selection committee because he fully met the
criteria of service to Southeastern, demonstration of humanitarian efforts, and exceptional
achievement in his field," Clausen said. "He didn't shy away from the Livingston case, even
though he was up against more than 2,000 defendants that read like a Who's Who of Fortune 500
companies. He took tremendous financial risk by playing a central role in organizing the
plaintiffs and their attorneys to seek remedy for the many Livingston Parish residents adversely
affected by this major toxic waste site. In the end, he made sure that the residents of Livingston
Parish will benefit from this settlement for years to come by urging the court to fund the
establishment of the Livingston Parish Literacy and Technology Center."
     The center  -- to be located in the town of Walker -- is a joint project involving Southeastern
and the Livingston Parish School Board. The facility is intended to provide a site for a wide
range of educational programs designed to benefit Livingston Parish residents. Included in the
plans are programs to help increase the parish high school graduation rate, better prepare students
for the work force, and increase the number of parish residents entering higher education. Other
programs may include a career center, an alternative education program, and projects designed to
improve achievement levels of young people in the system and to meet the needs of parents of
Livingston Parish students.
     Fayard will receive the award at the Alumni Awards Evening, which is part of Southeastern's
week-long homecoming celebration.
                             -SLU-