Campus Alert Archive
Howard

3,000 Howard Students Seize the Administration Building to Expel Lee Atwater from the Board

DCcivil unrestadvisorymedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

On March 7, 1989, Howard University students occupied the A. Mercer Daniel Administration Building for three days to protest the appointment of Republican National Committee chairman Lee Atwater to the university's Board of Trustees, and to demand improvements in campus conditions. As many as 3,000 of Howard's 12,000 students participated in what became one of the most visible HBCU campus protests of the post-civil-rights era. Within days, both Atwater and university president James E. Cheek announced their resignations.

Alerts
3
Response
—
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
Howard University
Hbcu · DC
Campus radio WHUR-FM and RA phone tree (pre-mass-notification era)
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 messages in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTPA System
Approximate reconstruction218 chars
Students are gathering at the administration building. All classes are suspended until further notice. Students should remain calm and away from the administration building. Campus security is monitoring the situation.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Howard's campus radio station WHUR-FM (96.3) served as the primary real-time information channel for students during the protest; announcements were also made via the campus PA system
The protest was in part inspired by Howard's recent history of student activism and the Deaf President Now success at Gallaudet University one year earlier
As many as 3,000 of Howard's 12,000 students participated at the height of the action, making it one of the largest HBCU campus protests of the 1980s
UPDATEPA System
Approximate reconstruction267 chars
The University administration is in active discussions with student representatives. Campus operations remain suspended in the administration building. Academic operations in other buildings continue. Students with urgent needs should contact their resident advisors.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Student demands included Atwater's removal from the Board, improvements to campus facilities and housing, a greater student voice in university governance, and curriculum reforms
The protest drew national media attention and was covered live on local Washington, D.C. television stations
Howard administrators used RA phone trees and WHUR radio to relay status updates to students in the dormitories
ALL CLEARPA System
Approximate reconstruction311 chars
Lee Atwater has resigned from the Howard University Board of Trustees. President Cheek has committed to addressing student concerns. The occupation of the administration building has ended. Normal campus operations will resume tomorrow morning. No students will face discipline for participation in the protest.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Atwater's resignation from the Board followed three days of escalating pressure; he had initially declined to resign despite student demands
President Cheek's announcement that he would eventually step down from the presidency was seen as a secondary victory for student organizers
The protest became a reference point in subsequent HBCU activism and is documented in the 2019 book 'We Are Worth Fighting For' (NYU Press)
Context

Background

The three-day occupation of Howard University's administration building in March 1989 was triggered by the Board of Trustees' appointment of Lee Atwater, the Republican National Committee chairman who had helped design the racially coded 'Willie Horton' campaign strategy used against Michael Dukakis in 1988, to the university's governing board. As described in the Washington Post's contemporaneous coverage, the appointment was experienced by Howard students as an institutional insult, and the protest mobilized an estimated 3,000 of the university's 12,000 students. Students took over the A. Mercer Daniel Administration Building on March 7, established a command center, and vowed not to leave until Atwater was removed and a list of campus improvement demands was met. The protest was explicitly modeled in part on the Deaf President Now protest at Gallaudet University the previous year. Howard's campus radio station WHUR-FM (96.3) and a network of resident-advisor phone trees served as the primary communication infrastructure during the shutdown, since no mass-notification technology existed. By March 9, both Atwater and President Cheek had announced they would leave their respective roles, and the student occupation ended without arrests or discipline. The event is documented in the 2019 scholarly volume We Are Worth Fighting For (NYU Press), which describes it as among the most consequential HBCU campus uprisings of the 1980s.
Analysis

Key Findings

Approximately 3,000 of Howard's 12,000 students participated in the three-day administration-building occupation in March 1989
The protest was triggered by the appointment of Republican National Committee chair Lee Atwater, architect of the racially coded Willie Horton campaign, to Howard's Board of Trustees
Campus radio station WHUR-FM (96.3) and RA phone trees served as the primary communication infrastructure during the shutdown, in the absence of any mass-notification system
Both Atwater and President James E. Cheek announced departures from their roles within days of the occupation, with no student disciplinary action
Outcome
Atwater resigned from the Howard Board of Trustees. President James E. Cheek announced he would step down from the presidency. The administration agreed to address a number of student concerns regarding campus facilities, curriculum, and student representation on the Board. No students faced disciplinary action.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    Why Howard University Exploded Last Week - Washington Post (March 12, 1989)
    washingtonpost.com
  2. Source
    We Are Worth Fighting For: A History of the Howard University Student Protest of 1989 (NYU Press, 2019)
    nyupress.org
  3. Source
    Deaf President Now - Wikipedia (context for parallel 1988 protest)
    en.wikipedia.org
  4. Source
    Lee Atwater - Wikipedia
    en.wikipedia.org
Tags
civil-unrestprotesthbcuDChistoricpre-clery1989campus-shutdownadministration-building-takeoverwhur-radioracial-justice
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion