Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1938 [PAGE 623]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

1938]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

621

The emergency confronting the University was presented to the University Council at a special meeting called for t h a t purpose and a special committee with Provost A. J. Harno as Chairman, and representatives of the Physical Plant Department, the Bureau of Institutional Research, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences was appointed to work out the necessary changes. It should be noted in the record that this committee and particularly the Physical Plant Department deserve great credit for what has been accomplished on such short notice. In most cases the committee was able to shift all classes formerly assigned to University Hall to other buildings both on the campus and off. Likewise all of the general and departmental offices, with only one or two exceptions, have been moved into other quarters. This has been accomplished by using open areas in basements and attics, heretofore utilized only for general service and storage, by taking over Library and Museum space, and by changing classrooms into offices. These changes have involved an extensive construction program by the Physical Plant Department working on three shifts a day in order to have classrooms and laboratories ready for the opening of the second semester. In converting large open areas used for storage and other purposes into classrooms, laboratories, and offices it has been necessary to erect many partitions, arrange corridors, and in some cases install ceilings as well. Whenever possible this remodeling has been of the same standard of construction as the buildings in which the changes have been made so t h a t the improvements are permanent. While it has been possible to move whole departments, individual members of the staff, and all classes formerly housed in University Hall to other quarters, the resulting arrangements are far from satisfactory in many cases. This could only be done by making sacrifices which will necessarily affect the work of individual staff members and of their departments and will impair their educational efficiency. It is not good educational practice to conduct classes in quarters such as basements and attics which do not have adequate blackboard space or natural light for such purposes. Neither is it good practice to schedule classes so far apart that students have difficulty in getting from one to the next on time. Assigning too many members of the faculty to one office is a decided handicap to both students and faculty members alike. It limits the facilities for consultation between students seeking advice and their instructors, which is an important part of the educational program. The shifts which have been made are: 1. The Department of Psychology, previously occupying the fourth and fifth floors of University Hall, has been moved into the fourth, or attic, floor of the New Agriculture Building where the space has been divided into classrooms, laboratories, and offices by the construction of partitions and ceilings. Classrooms on the third floor of the New Agriculture Building have been converted into departmental offices. 2. The English Department headquarters and offices of staff members have been moved into space made available in Lincoln Hall by remodeling four classrooms and taking over the janitor's room. These adjustments have also involved taking over a faculty office of the Department of Sociology which in turn has required two members of that Department to double up on office quarters. 3. The German Department faculty offices formerly in University Hall have been moved to the Library and to Lincoln Hall. One room has been taken over for this purpose in the Museum of European Culture. 4. Romance Languages. Faculty offices formerly in University Hall have been moved into offices previously assigned to this Department in Lincoln Hall and two rooms formerly used by the Museum of European Culture. 5. The History Department staff members formerly housed in one room in University Hall have been moved into rooms in Lincoln Hall previously assigned to that department but no additional space has been assigned for this purpose. 6. The School of Journalism, which is being housed in three buildings. Two former classrooms on the first floor of the Commerce Building have been converted into general offices. A part of the basement of the Commerce Building has been remodeled into rooms for the type-setting laboratory, copyreading room, and faculty offices. The reading room and reporting laboratory have been housed on the fourth floor of the Library by taking over temporarily a map room and a seminar. A part of the equipment which the School of Journalism shared with The Daily Mini in University Hall has been moved to a room in the Student Center formerly used for meetings.