James E. Cheek

James E. Cheek
Visiting with the President in 1981
Born	James Edward Cheek (1932-12-04)December 4, 1932 Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, U.S.
Died	January 8, 2010(2010-01-08) (aged 77) Greensboro, North Carolina
Occupation	educator, scholar, theologian, public speaker, humanitarian
Years active	1958–2010
Spouse(s)	Celestine, 1958–2010 (his death)
Children	2

James Edward Cheek (December 4, 1932 – January 8, 2010), president emeritus of Howard University, was born in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. Despite suffering from severe cataracts, Cheek was an honor student at Washington Street Grammar School. He graduated from Immanuel Lutheran College with a secondary diploma in 1950 and served as a member of the United States Air Force in Korea in 1951, eventually earning a Bachelor of Arts in sociology and history from Shaw University. In 1955, Cheek received a Master of Divinity from Colgate Rochester University in 1958 and a PhD from Drew University in 1962. During this period, Cheek was honored with a Colgate Rochester Fellowship, a Rockefeller Doctoral Fellowship and a Lily Foundation Fellowship. He was member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

Cheek was a professor of New Testament Theology at Virginia Union University when he was named president of Shaw University in 1963, at the age of 30. In 1968, he was appointed president of Howard University. During Cheek's twenty-year tenure at Howard, the student population increased by 3,500 and the number of schools, colleges, research programs, full-time faculty and Ph.D. programs increased dramatically. Howard's budget increased from $43 million to $417 million as the federal appropriation went from $29 million to $178 million. He was named Washingtonian of the Year in 1980 and in 1983, while still serving as president of Howard, Cheek was awarded the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

In 1989, Cheek appointed Republican National Committee Chairman Lee Atwater as a member of the Howard University Board of Trustees. Students rose up in protest against Atwater's appointment, disrupting Howard's 122nd anniversary celebrations, and eventually occupied the university's administration building. Within days, both Atwater and Cheek resigned.