Haley Barbour, federal judges Barbour and Davis speaking at MSU

Contact: Sammy McDavid

The Yazoo County native who once ran the national Republican Party organization will be featured speaker Friday [March 23] for Mississippi State's Morris W. Collins Speaker Series.

Haley Barbour, the 1993-96 Republican National Committee chair who now is a major Washington, D.C., lobbyist, will discuss his career at a 10 a.m. public program in the John Grisham Room of the university's Mitchell Memorial Library.

Also that day in the same location, United States District Judge William H. Barbour Jr. of Yazoo City and U.S. Magistrate Jerry A. Davis of Tupelo will speak at a separate program scheduled to get under way at 1 p.m. Judge Barbour, Haley Barbour's cousin, and Davis will discuss their legal careers and the federal judiciary.

Though designed primarily for members of the legal profession and MSU students interested in legal careers, the afternoon session also is open to the general public. Judge Davis is an MSU graduate.

MSU's John C. Stennis Institute of Government is sponsoring both programs, along with the library's Congressional and Political Research Center and the student John C. Stennis-G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery Association.

Haley Barbour is a University of Mississippi graduate, but MSU's political science department offers a scholarship endowed in his name. Judge Barbour also is an UM graduate.

For more information on the programs, telephone (662) 325-3328.