Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1926 [PAGE 591]

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588

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

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G R E G O R Y MEMORIAL Mrs. Ickes, for the committee to suggest a suitable memorial for Regent J. M . Gregory, made a report of progress, and stated that the committee expected to make a recommendation at the June meeting. BROWN-KNIPP PATENT Mr. Armstrong read a letter from Mr. Cairo A. Trimble concerning the negotiations for the sale of the Brown-Knipp radio tube. Professor White reported for the committee a recommendation that the offer of the General Electric Company of $10,000 for a nonexclusive license to manufacture these tubes be accepted, and that Mr. J. A. Dienner be requested to act for the Board in negotiating with the General Electric Company. O n motion of Dr. Noble, these recommendations were adopted, and Mr. Dienner was requested to report the progress of his negotiations to the Finance Committee. O n motion of Dr. Noble, the special committee was discharged, and the President of the University was requested to convey the thanks of the Board to Mr. Trimble for his valued services in this matter. STANDING COMMITTEES Mr. Armstrong, for the special committee on standing committees, made a report of progress, and stated that the committee expected to make a report at the June meeting. COMMERCIAL ACTIVITIES Mrs. Busey presented the following report of a meeting of the Committee on Agriculture. A meeting of the Committee on Agriculture was held in Dean Mumford's office at 10 o'clock a. m . on Friday, M a y 7, 1926. Present, Mrs. Busey, chairman, M r . Armstrong, President Kinley, Dean M u m ford, and Professors Blair, Burlison, Ruehe, and Rusk. The committee considered the commercial activities of the College of Agriculture. President Kinley was granted permission to incorporate in the record a letter to Dean Ketchum as a statement of the University's policy in the matter of commercial activities of the University. March 6, 1926 Dean M . S. Ketchum, Engineering Hall

Dear Mr. Dean:

Please accept m y thanks for yours of March 3 concerning the sale of foundry and other products which are by-products of the educational work of the College of Engineering. The University is subjected to criticism from time to time for interfering with private business. It is our duty to avoid giving any proper ground for such criticism. O n the other hand it is our duty to see to it that its utilization of such byproducts prevents as far as possible loss to the tax payers of the State. The real question then is whether the injury done to private business, if any, by the sale of our products is a greater or less loss to the people at large than would be the breaking up of these materials into scrap metal. In other words, the mere fact that an article is a by-product of our educational work is not of itself sufficient ground for selling it, provided any other use can be made of it which, even though less profit-