The University of Mississippi Law School student body will host former Gov. Haley Barbour on Friday, April 21, 2017 at noon in the Khayat Law Center, Room 2094. The event is part of the LSSB Speaker Series.
“We are very excited to have Gov. Haley Barbour as our keynote speaker for the final LSSB Speaker Series event of the year,” said Gregory Alston, LSSB President. “Gov. Barbour, having worked on the national stage and forefront of government policy and politics, is one of the university’s most distinguished alumni. Gov. Barbour has represented Ole Miss and the state of Mississippi with integrity, and we look forward to having him.”
An alumnus of the UM School of Law (JD 73), Barbour started his political career in 1968 working on Richard Nixon’s presidential campaign. Since then, he has worked closely with many Republican candidates including Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford. Barbour later served as the Political Director of the Reagan White House and cofounded BGR Group, a government affairs firm.
In 1993, Barbour served as Chairman of the Republican National Committee and managed the Republican surge in 1994. This surge led to Republican control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
In 2004, Barbour took office as Mississippi’s 63rd governor. A year after taking office, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. Barbour responded quickly to the disaster and received national recognition for his actions. He later published a memoir from the Governor’s perspective and leadership lessons that came from the disaster.