Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1916 [PAGE 287]

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MEETING OF JUNE 8, 1915.

The quarterly meeting of the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois was held in the Trustees' Room, at the University, in Urbana, on Tuesday, June 8, 1915, at 10.00 a. m. There being no quorum, the board adjourned to meet at the University, in Urbana, on Monday, June 14/1915, at 2.00 p. m. W. L. ABBOTT, President. H. E. CUNNINGHAM, Secretary.

Meeting of t h e Executive C o m m i t t e e , June 8 , 1 9 1 5 . A meeting of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois was held at the University, in Urbana, on Tuesday, June 8, 1915, immediately following the adjournment of the quarterly meeting of the Board of Trustees on the same date. President Abbott and Mr. Hoit, members of the Executive Committee, Mrs. Evans, a member of the board, President James, Mr. W. B. Castenholz, Comptroller, Prof. J. M. White, Supervising Architect, and Mr. L. J. Towne, Superintendent of Construction, were present MATTERS PRESENTED BY T H E PRESIDENT OF T H E UNIVERSITY. The Executive Committee proceeded to the consideration of the following matters presented by President James:

S U M M E R CAMP.

(1) The following statement: For some years several departments of the University, including Zoology, Botany, Geology, and Engineering, have had under consideration the question of the possibility of securing a site favorably located for field work in connection with courses of instruction. The Military Commandant has, moreover, urged repeatedly that a site be provided for a summer camp for military instruction. Some attempts have been made at different times to furnish field instruction in various subjects, notably in Botany and Zoology, a t Havana in connection with the Illinois Natural History Survey. Prof. I. O. Baker presented elaborate reports to the board on March 11, 1913 (Report, 1914, page 196), and on January 22, 1915 (Minutes, page 242), showing the necessity of a summer camp for students in Civil Engineering, calling attention to the fact that other institutions had felt the same need and had provided for it in some instances, notably Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in a very liberal way. Prof. Baker examined several sites on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, and made certain recommendations to the board which received careful consideration, but upon which, for various reasons, action was not taken. I suggested to some of the men interested in this work that a site on the Illinois River, perhaps near the State Park at Starved Rock, might be suitable for our purpose. Prof. Baker made an examination and decided it was possible to find a site in that locality which would serve the purpose of the University. Later, Professors Baker, White, and Richards, and subsequently Prof. Newell, made a further examination of this district, and joined in a recommendation that a summer camp be established somewhere in the region. They have received some encouragement that the people of LaSalle would be interested in helping to realize the project. On June 3 and 4, I visited the locality and had a conference with several gentlemen," including Mr. P . W. Matthiessen, of Deer Park, Capt. G. P. Blow, President of the Matthiessen & Hegeler Zinz Co., Mr. G. A. Wilson, President of the LaSalle National Bank, and Mr. R. W. Thompson, Executive Secretary of the LaSalle Commercial Association, all of whom, were deeply interested in the project. I walked over the entire region which had been visited by Professors Baker, White, Richards, and Newell, from the west end of the State Park to the mouth of the Big Vermilion River. I found a site which seemed to me very satisfactory, and which would serve all the different purposes in an admirable way. I recommend that the President of the University be authorized to make the statement that if the people of LaSalle, or other interested persons, will give the 287