Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1924 [PAGE 10]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

1922]

U N I V E R S I T Y O F ILLINOIS

7

500,000 500,000 400,000

3. Men's Gymnasium and Equipment 4. Commerce Building and Equipment 5. Agricultural Building and Equipment

Total $2400,000 This schedule provides $250,000 more for the proposed Library Building and Equipment than was asked for two years ago. The delay has made it imperative to put up a larger unit of the building than would have been necessary if w e had secured the money asked for at the last session of the General Assembly. N o building is more imperatively needed than a new Library. Every department of the University is suffering because of the crowded conditions of our Library. Educational progress is retarded. I feel that the importance of this matter can not be over-emphasized. Whatever else is done, it is imperative that this building be secured. W e need a second Woman's Residence Hall, similar to that existing hall on Nevada Street. This can be duplicated for the amount indicated. I a m suggesting a men's Gymnasium with equipment, for several reasons. In the first place, the College of Engineering needs more laboratory space. The building formerly used as an Armory, now known as the " G y m Annex" is admirably suited for the work of an Electrical Engineering Laboratory. Similarly, the so-called "Engine R o o m Annex," the brick addition made to the old Armory during the war and used as an engine room laboratory for students in aviation, is admirably suited for the work of the Engineers. One at least of these is-needed by the - Engineers. W e have the choice of constructing a large new laboratory for the engineers or of freeing these two buildings and equipping them wholly or partly for their use. I think the latter method is preferable for several reasons. In thefirstplace, the military work is now half a mile or more away from the Gymnasium. The proposed Stadium will be in the neighborhood of the Armory. The men's Gymnasium should be in the proximity of both these buildings. The work in physical education and athletics will therefore be served by erecting a new Gymnasium in the neighborhood of the Armory; and the work of the College of Engineering will be served by securing the use of the buildings referred to above, now used as gymnasiums. The proposed arrangement, I think, is the most economical that could be proposed, and would be as satisfactory from a service point of view as any other arrangement. A Commerce Building with equipment is proposed, for several reasons. In the first place, the present building is wholly inadequate, on account of the increase in the number of students in the College of Commerce and Business Administration. They have multiplied more than four times since the present building was erected. In the second place, the students in the Arts and Sciences need the classrooms in the present Commerce Building. If they can not get these, it will be necessary to erect a new general classroom building somewhere on the campus. The purposes of both Colleges will be better served by erecting a new building for the College of Commerce, south of the Auditorium, vacating the present building for general classroom use, and taking care of any overflow in the new C o m merce Building. In accordance with the general policy which I have outlined at various times, we should make special provision each biennium for some one of the great divisions of the University, with a view to making its quarters and equipment as complete as possible. The last General Assembly gave us half a million dollars for an Agricultural classroom and office building. This needs to be supplemented with a group of buildings of a laboratory type, including cattle barns, in order to bring our equipment into a modern condition. After this is done, equivalent provision should be made for the College of Engineering. In the meantime, adequate facilities will be provided for it by the addition of one or two laboratories