Southeastern NEWS

                                                       Southeastern Louisiana University
                                           Public Information Office
                                           publicinfo@selu.edu
                                           SLU 880, Hammond, LA 70402
                                           504/549-2341/fax 504-549-2061
    Date: 9/1/99
      Contact:                           Christina Chapple   1

Editors: Photo accompanies release
DEMOCRACY, EDUCATION ARE PRIORITIES IN HAITI
     HAMMOND -- Haitian President Ren‚ Pr‚val told an audience at Southeastern
Louisiana University today (Sept. 1) that developing democracy and improving education are
"essential tasks" facing his impoverished island country.
     Pr‚val, the second freely-elected president in Haiti's 200-year history, is on a  "peace-
building mission" to the United States, Southeastern President Sally Clausen said. This first vist
to Southeastern by a president is part of Southeastern's push " to bring the global village to
Southeastern so that students, faculty and the community have opportunities to explore issues
between countries," Clausen said.
     The Haitian president, speaking through an interpreter, said that to overcome poverty his
country must first shore up its young democracy and educate its citizens.
     "The essential task is to develop democracy, the second is to develop education. The rest
will come on top of that," Pr‚val said.
     Pr‚val said Haiti's per capital income averages $200 and one percent of the population
controls half of the country's wealth. "If $200 is the average, that means that some people live on
practically nothing," Pr‚val said. "Ninety-nine percent must share the other 50 percent."
     Pr‚val said that before the "innovation" of free elections, Haiti's government "didn't have
to care about the electorate." While French previously was the official language, now
"Everybody speaks Creole," the island's native tongue, he said. "We want the people to
understand what we are saying because  we want to have votes."
     The democratic process and its demand for accountability are spurring efforts to improve
the country's infrastructure, health care, and education, Pr‚val said. Under democracy, the 
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number of Haitian high schools has increased from 33 to 152, he said. 
     "It is the level of education of the people that pulls a country on the way to development,"
Pr‚val said.
     "We at Southeastern understand what you are trying to do," Clausen told Pr‚val after his
speech. "We understand education's connection to the economy, civility and a democratic
society."
     While at Southeastern, Pr‚val also visited with student leaders, was guest of honor at a
luncheon, and received keys to the city from Hammond Mayor Louis Tallo and Ponchatoula
Mayor Julian Dufreche. He was accompanied by his wife, Guerda Benoit Pr‚val; the U.S.
Ambassador to Haiti Timothy Carney; Julio Guichard, director of the New Orleans Mayor's
Office of International Relations and Trade Development, and by more than a dozen members of
his administration.
     Pr‚val's visit was part of Southeastern's celebration of FrancoFete and was sponsored by
the College of Arts and Sciences, foreign languages and literatures department, College of
Business, Master of Business Administration program and the New Orleans Mayor's Office of
International Relations and Trade Development. 


                             -SLU-
     This press release is available on the World Wide Web:
       www.selu.edu/NewsEvents/PublicInfoOffice/newsf99.htm