Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1944 [PAGE 223]

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220

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

[December 15

T h e plan presented by Dr. W o r k s is based on some of the proposals made by the B.F.A.H. Report, on some of the proposals made in the Administrative Review and already approved by the Board, and on some proposals which are entirely new. His plan calls for: (a) redefinition of direct lines of authority from and to the President; (b) redefinition of the functions of the Provost (Vice-President of Teaching and Research) ; (c) creation of a new officer to be known as the Director of Professional Education, together with a novel plan of educational organization for certain professional schools; ( d ) elimination of the Comptroller, both as a special officer under the Business Manager as proposed by the B.F.A.H. Report and as an officer reporting to the President as proposed in the Administrative Review; (e) redefinition of the duties of the Director of the Bureau of Institutional Research (already proposed in the Administrative Review) ; ( f ) creation of a Dean of Students with additional administrative duties over those already proposed by the B.F.A.H. Report and considered favorably by the Administrative Review; (g) alteration of the title of a Public Relations Officer; ( h ) retention of the Executive Dean of the Chicago Colleges with the added administrative authority proposed by the B.F.A.H. Report; (i) subordination of the Athletic Association to the School of Physical Education (rejected by the B.F.A.H. Report) ; (j) complete reorganization of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences along divisional lines; and ( k ) complete dissolution of the Graduate School, its present functions being reassigned to the departments and schools. T w o comments should be made about these proposals: 1. It should be obvious that each new person or agent who makes a survey of the institution will produce a new plan for converting the essential purposes of the University, as described in the general considerations above, into a formal administrative structure. T h e University already operates under a plan which has been progressively changed to meet new conditions, the B.F.A.H. Report has proposed another plan, the Administrative Review has accepted some parts of this proposal and offered substantial suggestions for other parts, and Dr. W o r k s has presented still another plan. These several plans, and any other which may be proposed, lead to the second comment: 2. It is entirely feasible for almost anyone to draw up a precise plan for the administrative organization of the University, even though he has made only a casual inspection. But a sharp distinction must be drawn between the plan submitted and the method of procedure to be employed in creating the plan and especially in putting the plan into action. This distinction holds true of the plan presented in the Administrative Review, and of any other plan that might be proposed. In more detail, the distinction between a plan of organization and a method of procedure can be illustrated as follows: T h e firm of Booz, Fry, Allen, and Hamilton, Dr. Works, and the Administration have submitted proposed plans of educational and business organization. In addition, the Administration has proposed a method of procedure. This method is the most important consideration which has as yet been placed before the Board of Trustees. It is contained in the final recommendation of the Administrative Review of the B.F.A.H. Report, and it has been approved by the Board (Minutes, page 186). It reads: "In view of these considerations, the recommendations for action noted above should be confirmed by the Board of Trustees, and the President should be directed to continue and to intensify, with the aid of other administratitve officers and the Bureau of Institutional Research, studies of administrative organization, and report on them from time to time to the Board as he may consider appropriate, looking toward an early realization of the avowed purpose of the Report, viz., the highest possible degree of efficiency in University administration which is compatible with the main functions of the University." This is the most important consideration that has been placed before the Board because of the following facts: 1. This method of procedure does not reject any recommendation from any source whatsoever which can be shown to serve the interests of the University of Illinois. There is no indication anywhere that "from the temper of the report made by the Administration there is danger that it (the B.F.A.H.