Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1896 [PAGE 94]

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PEOCEEDINGS OF BOARD OF TRUSTEES.

97

3. That the architectural wood shop be discontinued and the machinery and implements therein be moved to the second story of the present mechanical building, and that all the wood work in connection with the University be embraced within a single department to be carried on upon that floor. 4. That the parts of the mechanical engineering equipment now in the basement of the Chemical Laboratory be removed to Machinery Hall or to the new shop. 5. That a room be set apart in Machinery Hall for the use of the superintendent of building and grounds, who, it is hoped, will soon be appointed, to be used by him for carrying on carpentry, cabinet-making, or other work incidental to the needs of the construction and supply department of the University. 6. That the President divide the remaining space in Machinery Hall between the mechanical engineering department and the testing laboratory, according to their relative needs.

CARE OF BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS.

It seems clear to me that the time has come when it is necessary to establish a new department in aid of the proper administration of University affairs. I refer to a department having charge of University property. Nothing has caused me more annoyance during my service with the University than the very common neglect of University property which has been manifest. I do not mean to lay special censure upon any particular individual. The fact is that University buildings have been erected and grounds have been developed without any organization adequate to their care. One or two of the janitors seem to have had a fair conception of what good janitorial service is. The others are incapable of any such conception, and in my judgment, are altogether unfitted for the service which they are bound to render us. Buildings are not kept as clean and wholesome as they should be, and furnishings suffer severely because of continual neglect, or because what is done is done by persons who have no knowledge of what should be done and no adaptation to the service. Members of the corps of instruction and officers in administrative positions are continually put to serious annoyance because of the inefficiency of janitorial service. Criticism may properly be made upon the care of the grounds also. The lawns have not been renewed where they have become run out. The trees need trimming higher up so that one can look across the campus when standing on the ground. When trees have been cut down the stumps have been left in the ground and always make an unsightly spot upon the lawn. Lawlessness is prevalent about University property to a degree which I never saw before, elsewhere, about public property. The people of the vicinage maraude upon our grounds and are impertinent when their depredations are resisted. All of the neavy stone-work for the cemetery at the south of the campus is drawn through the grounds, funeral processions frequently pass through the grounds, even military processions do this to the demoralization of University work. At the last Memorial Day exercises, by count, more than 7,000 persons passed through the grounds, paying no respect to lawns or shrubbery. Men rode their horses and drove their vehicles over the lawns and were displeased when the employes of the University endeavored to stop such proceedings. The daily labor which has been employed about the University has been very unsatisfactory for want of competent direction. I am constrained to say that sufficient money has been paid for this labor to have produced very appreciable results, but that such results have not been attained because of lack of organization and necessary direction. There has been a lack of responsibility and accountability about the matter. From these remarks I desire especially to except Mr. A. B. Barker, who has for 20 years been in charge of University Hall and has always been as faithful and devoted as it is possible for a man to be. He has been a faithful servant of the University, entitled to the respect of its officers. His advancing years render it impracticable for him to carry on the service now required of him, but I trust that there may be a readjustment which will retain him for certain duties to which he is exceptionally adapted.

—7 U. I.