View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Howard University: Digital Howard New Directions Volume 16 | Issue 3 Article 2 7-1-1989 The heekC Era at Howard (1969-89) A Remarkable Record of Achievement Harriet Jackson Scarupa Follow this and additional works at: http://dh.howard.edu/newdirections Recommended Citation Scarupa, Harriet Jackson (1989) "The heC ek Era at Howard (1969-89) A Remarkable Record of Achievement," New Directions: Vol. 16: Iss. 3, Article 2. Available at: http://dh.howard.edu/newdirections/vol16/iss3/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Howard @ Howard University. It has been accepted for inclusion in New Directions by an authorized administrator of Digital Howard @ Howard University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. REPORT THE CHEEK ERA AT HOWARD (1969-89) A Remarkable Record of Achievement NEW SCHOOLS ESTABLISHED IN THE CHEEK ERA College of Allied Health Sciences (1974) School of Architecture and Planning (1970) School of Business and Public Administration (1972) School of Communications (1972) School of Continuing Education (1986) School of Education (1971) School of Human Ecology (1974) SOME INDICATORS OF * EXTRAORDINARY GROWTH O f IN THE CHEEK ERA c*>> 2*11 r %of 1969 1989 Increase Number of students 9,571 12,773 33.5 Number of faculty 1,284 1,960 52.7 Number ofschools/colleges i IS 63. Number of academic programs 112 183 63,4 Howard University Board of Trustees Chairman John E. Jacob presenting Cheek with a “Thank Number of bachelor's degree pro­ You” citation during the 1989 Charter Day Din­ g r a m s 13 25 92.3 ner in March. Number of master’s degree pro- 12 20 66.7 Number ol Ph.D. programs 8 24 200. Number of Joint Degree programs 0 5 _ N u m b e r o f lib ra ry v o lu m e s 613,009 1,666,283 171.8 Number of major research insti­ tutes centers 1 10 900. Number ot campuses 1 4 300. Number of buildings 61 89 45.9 Total operating budget (includes h o sp ita l) $43,000,000 5417,000,000 869.8 Federal appropriations (includes $29,470,000 5178,973,000 507.3 Endowment (book value) $ 8,275,289 $ 67,197,418 712. SOURCES: Office of Planning, Analysis and institutional Research; Office of the Vice President for Business and Fiscal Affairs PRIMARY SOURCE FOR INFORMATION ON OTHER LISTS: Office of Planning, Analysis and Institutional Research THE GRADUATION RECORD 1970-1989 Total number of graduates 37.026 Number of bachelor's degrees awarded 21,052 Number of master’s c awarded 7,960 Number of doctorates awarded (excludes Doctor of Medicine, Juris Doctor, Pharm.D. and D.D.S.) 1.428 NEW DIRECTIONS JULY 1989 By Harriet Jackson Scarupa 5 n a platform set up on the upper quadrangle of the main Howard University campus, O James E. Cheek stood before a podium emblazoned with the Howard University seal and delivered his per­ sonal message to members of the class of 1989. As blue and white balloons drifted overhead and flower vendors prepared to do a booming business, he looked out at the upturned faces before him and said: “We thank you for having chosen How­ ard as the place to participate in the ex­ perience of education and you leave us with our fondest wish for God’s richest benediction upon all of your endeavors. May God bless and crown you with success.” To many onlookers there was a partic­ ular poignancy about his remarks, as there was about the whole scene on that balmy May 13th. For it marked the last time that James E. Cheek would preside over a Howard University com­ mencement. On April 22, the chairman of Howard’s Board of Trustees announced Cheek’s decision to retire as Howard’s president, effective June 30, 1989, exactly two de­ cades and day after Cheek first took over the job. Now, on an occasion that customarily signifies new beginnings, he bid his for­ mal adieu to the university community. He spoke without rhetorical flourishes and fanfare, but from the heart: “It would be appropriate on this my final commencement to have some elo­ quent words of farewell. I do not. I sim­ ply want to say to all of you, the mem­ bers of the Board of Trustees, the members of the faculty, the students, the alumni, the staff and the supporters of this institution: Celestine, Jimmy and Janet [his wife and two children] and I ex- NEW DIRECTIONS JULY 1989 6 press to all of you our deepest thanks for that Howard was doomed to take a back having afforded us the privilege over two seat in higher education, that so much decades of working in your midst and Under Cheek’s leadership, damage had been done to our reputation being a part of the Howard University that we’d not be able to attract faculty, mission and the Howard University nearly every facet of the that we were going to be a kind of back­ family. university. has in­ water institution,” as Michael R. Win­ “We shall always have a special place ston, the university’s vice president for in our hearts for this institution and for all creased significantly and, academic affairs, expresses it. of you. Thank you so very much. in many cases, spec­ God bless you and farewell.” On the Heels of Turmoil With that, he joined the festive gradu­ tacularly. Cheek, in fact, had arrived at Howard fol­ ates and others as they linked hands, lowing the most tumultuous period in its swayed, and raised their voices to sing history. A time when the campus was the alma mater: “Reared against the reeling under the twin pressures of Black eastern sky/Proudly there on hilltop high/ power and student power. Far about the lake so blue/Stands old In the wake of the urban rebellions of Howard firm and true ...” station, radio station, hotel and academic the late ‘60s, Howard students — like The setting for Cheek’s brief farewell publishing house have been added . many other Black students across the remarks, while poignant, seems espe­ And more. Much more. country — embraced the cause of Black cially fitting for it highlights a compelling At the university’s annual Charter Day identity with ferocious intensity. And in fact: More degrees had been awarded to Dinner last March, John E. Jacob, chair­ their quest to have the campus reflect Howard students under his tenure as man of Howard’s Board of Trustees, pre­ this intensity, in a very real sense, they president than had been awarded in the sented Cheek with a citation that com­ brought the “battle” to academia. For entire century that preceded it. It is but mended him for the special role he has many of them, Howard — despite its role one marker of the extraordinary impact played in the university’s history. It read, as a champion of Black people — and the 56-year-old educator has had on the in part: Howard’s eminent president, James M. university. “Your arrival at Howard twenty years Nabrit Jr. — despite his pioneering work Under his leadership, new schools and ago marked the beginning of a fortuitous in civil rights law — simply weren’t programs have been added, existing journey for you and for this University. “Black” enough. With all the fervor of ones expanded and improved. New With clear vision, intellectual prowess, youth, they accused the university of buildings have transformed the very and unstinting effort, you have demon­ being too “white-oriented” in its aca­ “look” of the main campus, while new strated that Howard University may demic offerings and too “ivory-towerish” campuses have transformed the uni­ move from ‘strength to strength.’. in its stance toward Black oppression. versity’s geographical configuration. “As Chief Executive Officer of this Nor were these students content to sit Nearly every facet of the university, from University, you have placed Howard in back and have others decide on all mat­ the size of the faculty and the student the front rank of American universities ters relating to their education. They body to the number of books in the li­ and directed it to high levels of academic wanted a part in the decision-making brary system and the number of dollars achievement, increased levels of financial process. in the budget, has increased significantly support and unprecedented growth. The result of all this was turmoil. and, in many cases, spectacularly. The “Under your aegis, Howard University In 1967, Nabrit had announced his res­ university’s academic horizons have has experienced a renaissance in all of ignation, saying he would stay on only broadened to reflect its emergence as a the facets of its life as an institution of until a successor could be found. Mean­ major comprehensive research-oriented higher learning. .” while, the turmoil continued. During the institution while still accommodating its All this is perhaps even more remark­ 1968-69 academic year alone, the cam­ historic concern with addressing and re­ able when one considers that in the wake pus experienced five different student dressing societal inequities, especially as of the student upheavals of the late ‘60s, boycotts and building takeovers, the they affect Black people. A television “There were many people who thought largest of which (May 1969) resulted in NEW DIRECTIONS JULY 1989 closing the university for five days, the evance’ and the faculty’s demand for ‘ex- 7 arrest of 21 students, including the cellence’ are not contradictory and mutu­ student body president, and considerable Cheek, in fact, had arrived ally exclusive.