HARRIS NAMED ASSOCIATE GENERAL COUNSEL FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AT USDA  

                                            Release No. 0016.98
                                                               
                                   Laura Trivers (202) 720-4623
                                         laura.trivers@usda.gov
                                  Martha Cashion (202) 720-3310
                                        martha.cashion@usda.gov

HARRIS NAMED ASSOCIATE GENERAL COUNSEL FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AT USDA

     WASHINGTON, Jan. 14, 1998--Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman announced today
that David H. Harris, Jr. has been selected as associate general counsel for civil rights at the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.

     "USDA continues to make progress in the area of civil rights," Glickman said.  "Creating
the new position of associate general counsel for civil rights is one of the many changes we are
making.  David Harris brings to the position extensive legal experience in environmental justice,
fair lending practices, and public interest law related to assisting landowners threatened with loss
of their land.  With his dedication to equality and justice for all, I am convinced he will be an
invaluable asset to this department."

     The position of associate general counsel for civil rights was created as a result of the
recommendation of Glickman's Civil Rights Action Team, which he established in December
1996.  The attorneys under Harris in this new section of the Office of the General Counsel will
specialize in civil rights law and are to provide USDA with enriched legal resources to make
certain that employment and program delivery activities are conducted in accordance with civil
rights laws.
     
     Until his selection for the position at USDA, Harris had been serving as executive director
of the Land Loss Prevention Project in Durham, N.C. since 1987.   He helped to found the
organization in 1982.  LLPP is a nonprofit public interest law firm that provides free legal
representation to limited resource landowners threatened with the loss of land due to legal,
environmental, or economic factors.

     From 1983 to 1987, Harris served as a supervising attorney at Eastern Carolina Legal
Services in Wilson, N.C.  He was a staff attorney at Legal Services of the Blue Ridge in Boone,
N.C., from 1981 to 1983.

     A native of Chatham County, N.C., Harris received a bachelor of arts degree in political
science from North Carolina Central University in Durham and a law degree from the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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