James Alfred Perkins

James Alfred Perkins (October 11, 1911 – August 19, 1998[1]) was an American academic administrator who was the seventh president of Cornell University, from 1963 to 1969.

At Swarthmore, Perkins joined the Delta Upsilon Fraternity and played college football alongside his classmate, DU brother and future 1972 Nobel Prize laureate Christian B. Anfinsen.

In 1951–1952, on leave from Carnegie Corporation, he served as deputy chairman of the Research and Development Board at the United States Department of Defense.

In 1995, Thomas W. Jones, a trustee of the university who had been a leader of the building occupation, established the James A. Perkins Prize for Interracial Understanding and Harmony in his name.

[1] In an episode[7] of The Office, Andy Bernard mentions Perkins while conducting an admissions interview of his co-worker.

Armed African American Vietnam War student protesters exiting Willard Straight Hall at Cornell University after negotiating an end to their occupation of the building; the occupation led to Perkins' resignation as president of the university. The following year, in 1970, Steve Starr , the Associated Press photographer who took the photo, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for it.