Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1904 [PAGE 336]

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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS.

PRESIDENT DRAPER'S ADMINISTRATION.

[June 7,

Mr. Bullard offered the following appreciation from the Committee appointed to prepare such a paper at the March meeting of the B o a r d :

URBANA, ILLINOIS, June 7, 1904. To the Board of Trustees of the University of Illlinois: GENTLEMEN: Your special committee begs leave to report with regard to President Andrew S. Draper as follows: Andrew Sloan Draper became president of this "University and entered upon the active duties of that office August 1, 1894. He was not experienced in college or university administration. H e came from the superintendency of schools of the city of Cleveland, Ohio, which he has filled for two years, and to that ofiice he came from the office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction of the state of New Vork. His experience in public school matters and his acquaintance with school administration and maintenance, united with eminent abilities to organize men and things into an united force for the accomplishment of definite ends, were at once loyally applied hj him to the end that the University of Illinois might fully accomplish the work prescribed for it by its founders and by the State. He fully believed in the work which the University was created to do. He fully believed that the University could be so organized as to do it well. He fully believed t h a t the State of Illinois would worthily support the University when shown that it was faithfully performing that work. H e did not believe, and he so expressed himself in his letter of acceptance, that he was fully qualified to take the lead in the great work the University was to do. B u t he immediately manifested a clear mental grasp of the situation. H e rightly comprehended the University's material conditions, the power of its Board of Trustees, the supreme importance of the work of its faculty, and the source and possibility of its financial support. This accurate view of the University was a sure basis for success. President Draper has been with us for practically ten years. H e goes from us to take up a large work in the educational field in his native state. I t is with a profound sense of what has been accomplished in, for, and by the University of Illinois during his administration that this Board receives his resignation. During the past ten years, under the guidance of President Draper, the University has largely advanced in the following lines: The University has been more closely and vitally articulated with the public schools of the state. I t s material embodiment has been regularly and systematically promoted; there has been increased support obtained from the state for the instructional force; there has been a large expansion in the courses of study presented for students and the affiliation or the founding of the Colleges of Pharmacy, Medicine, Dentistry, and Law was accomplished. There has been an exalted advance in sound scholarship. There has been an improved organization of the administrative forces. There has been a phenomenal increase in the number of students attending on the instruction of the University. These are some of the things which have been actively promoted during President Draper's administration, and which are largely due to his initiative and perseverance. I t is the belief of the members of this Board that an equally great advance in the work of the University was promised for the next decade as the past one presents had the President chosen to stay.