Black Law Professor Given Tenure At Ole Miss

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) _ Louis Westerfield, who grew up in New Orleans housing projects, has become the first black law professor ever to receive tenure at the University of Mississippi.

Westerfield, 35, received word of his tenure approval in only his second year at the university. He is the only full-time black law professor at the school and is considered one of the top researchers and writers on the 20- member law faculty.

He said tenure was part of an agreement with the university when he left the law faculty at Loyola University of New Orleans, where he was tenured in 1982.

The tenure move shows a ″change in attitude″ in Mississippi and at the university, he said.

Chancellor Gerald Turner said Westerfield’s service ″has been exemplary.″

Parham Williams, dean of the law school, added: ″We’re very fortunate to have him.″

Westerfield moved from Mississippi to New Orleans at age 11. There, he said, he was educated in the ″Jim Crow″ schools of the 1960s.