Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1920 [PAGE 713]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

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ILLINOIS

709

COOPERATIVE COAL MINING INVESTIGATIONS (23) A request for approval of the renewal for the year ending June 30, 1920, of the agreement for cooperative investigation of coal mining by the Engineering Experiment Station, the United States Bureau of Mines, and the Illlinois Geological Survey (See page 210).

The renewal of this agreement was approved.

FEES FOR DIPLOMAS AND TRANSCRIPT OF CREDITS (24) A recommendation from Registrar C. M. McConn that (a) the diploma fee be increased to $10, effective September 1, 1920, (b) that the fee for duplicate diplomas be increased to $10, effective immediately, and (c) that each student shall be entitled to receive on request, without charge, one transcript of his record, but that for transcripts after the first, charges shall be established as follows: Original, or first copies, $\ each; carbon copies, fifty cents each.

These fees were approved.

RESIGNATION OF PRESIDENT JAMES

At this point, President Carr presented the resignation of President James:

March 3, 1920 To the Board of Trustees, University of Illinois-. Nearly eight months have passed since the beginning of the leave of absence granted me by the Board for rest and recuperation. When I left the University, my mind was not entirely clear as to the wisdom of returning, not only because of the possibility of my not recovering the full vigor necessary to carry on my work, but also because I have had a feeling for some time, as I have indicated to you before, that I have reached the age where I should retire from active duty. As the months have passed, the conviction that I should not return to active service has deepened, mainly for the latter reason. Therefore, I am writing now to offer my resignation as President of the University, to take effect at the close of my leave of absence, September 1, 1920. Needless to say, I have reached this conclusion only after the most thorough consideration and with great regret. For any man is reluctant to give up the work to which his life has been given for so many years and to which he is so deeply attached. Nothing would make me happier than to return and continue active service if I felt that in doing that I was discharging my highest duty to the University. I could feel so, however, only if I were sure that the interests of the University would not be better served by some other one with, perhaps, some different points of view and who is at an age to put more vigor into his work than I can. The years of my connection with the University as President have been very happy. I feel that you will agree with me that they have also been years of accomplishment and that the progress of the University has been very marked. That wc have been able to achieve such marked success is due in large measure to the hearty cooperation which my colleagues on the faculty and the members of your Board have given me without stint. I look forward with confidence to an even greater future for the University. It has grown into the hearts of the people of the State and it will do so in a larger way in the years to come. It has become one of the great universities of the world, and I have no doubt that in a very short time it will exert a still more commanding influence in education and research. Whatever I can do to help it during the years that yet remain to me, I will gladly do, and will look for opportunities to be of service. In this connection, I am sure that there is no impropriety in my appealing to my fellow citizens of the State of Illinois to get better acquainted with their great institution and to give it a larger financial support. I