Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1944 [PAGE 283]

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280

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

[February 20

Whereas, it is our opinion that the people of the State of Illinois can best be served with higher education by a united support of a centrally located school such as the University of Illinois and that we look with disfavor on the establishment of another university in any part of the State of Illinois for the reason that it would detract from an institution that has been building up for some 70 years and one that ranks third in the United States; Therefore be it resolved, that the Champaign County Board of Realtors, mindful of the heavy demands now being made on all our people, and at the urgent request of Governor Green that every community in the State forego any and all unnecessary expenditures at this time, deem it unwise and unpatriotic of the sponsors of such a proposed University of Southern Illinois; and Be it further resolved, that the Secretary of the Champaign County Board of Realtors is hereby directed to present a copy of this resolution to our State Representatives, and to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, also to the Governor of the State, and to request the co-operation of their offices to the end that the purpose of this resolution may be accomplished. REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON SURVEY REPORT O F AMERICAN C O U N C I L ON EDUCATION

Mr. Jensen presented the following report of the special committee appointed January 23, 1943 (Minutes, page 236).

T h e special committee to consider and make recommendations on the Report of the Survey of the University of Illinois made by a Commission of the American Council on Education met in President Willard* s office at 9 a.m. on Friday, February 5, 1943. Mr. F r a n k A. Jensen, Chairman, Superintendent Vernon L. Nickell, and President Arthur Cutts Willard were present; also Mr. A. J. Janata, Assistant to the President, and Mr. H . E. Cunningham, Secretary. Following a general discussion of the meaning and implications of the Report and the most advantageous manner of approach to the work of implementing the recommendations of the Report, the committee, in the absence of Dean Works, considered informally the fourteen specific recommendations of the Survey Commission as stated on pages 18 to 21 of the Advance Proof of the Report, and adjourned to meet in Chicago at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, February 10, 1943. At the adjourned session, Mr. Jensen, President Willard, Dean W o r k s , and the Secretary were present; Mr. Nickell was detained at the last moment by other public business in Springfield. (Mr. James C. Olson, of the firm of Booz, Fry, Allen, and Hamilton, although not free to meet with the committee during the forenoon, joined the group for luncheon and was informed of the nature of the discussions and the conclusions reached, and was given opportunity to make such comment as he desired. Mr. Olson stated that he had not had time to read the Survey Report and therefore could not express any opinion on the matter.) T h e chairman summarized the discussion and the tentative conclusions of the first session, and Dean W o r k s presented his memoranda on the Survey Report. After discussion, the committee agreed on the following recommendations. ( T h e recommendations of the Commission as printed in the Advance Proof are first given; then the recommendations for Board action as formulated by this committee). 1. " T h e Commission recommends that the University of Illinois make a careful study to determine whether there is not another method of selecting members for its Board of Trustees which will remove that selection and the operation of the Board, as far as possible, from partisan influences." T h e committee recommends that the Board in committee of the whole make an intensive study of the manner of the nomination of candidates for membership on the Board of Trustees. 2. " T h e Commission recommends that the selection of graduate students be placed upon a basis which will distribute appointments more equitably among the several departments of the Graduate School, and by means which will give more nearly reliable indexes of proper performance of the persons selected as graduate students. An example of this instrumentality is the recently developed Graduate Record Examinations."