The Nation - News from March 7, 1989

More than 1,000 Howard University students in Washington took over the school’s administration building in an effort to force the removal of Lee Atwater, chairman of the Republican National Committee, from Howard’s board of trustees. Leaders of the protest at Howard, one of the nation’s largest black colleges, vowed that they would retain control of the building until Atwater, whom they described as having “consistently opposed the agenda of African-American people,” is removed from the board. The action followed a demonstration Friday by about 2,000 students who disrupted Howard’s 122nd anniversary convocation ceremony as they protested Atwater’s election to the board. There were reports that classes in two study halls and in the school of business were shut down, or were being heavily boycotted. But Alan Hermesch, director of university relations, said that the institution was “operating normally” except for the administration building.