Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1960 [PAGE 90]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

1958]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

87

would be difficult to locate them. It would also be difficult and expensive to locate the heirs of the original purchasers who are now deceased, the heirs of the grantors, and others who may claim an interest in this land. After further study of the question of who is entitled to the west half of the tract under the provisions of the deed from the Deans, the Legal Counsel is inclined to the opinion that the agreement and understanding referred to in the deed is probably not legally enforceable and that the University can probably convey the west half to the High School District without incurring liability to anyone who might assert an interest in the land under the provisions of the 1915 deed. However, he also regards this conclusion sufficiently debatable so that he advises the University not to assume the risk of conveying the west half of the tract without first securing either a judicial determination of the question or some other protection against potential liability. As a result of negotiations with counsel for the Board of Education of the High School of the Sparta Township High School District No. i n , the latter has arranged to secure a title guaranty policy insuring, upon certain conditions, the title to the property if it is conveyed by the University to and for the use of the District. As further protection, the District will enter into an agreement with the University to indemnify and hold the University harmless against any liability to others which the University might incur through so conveying that property. Since the University has abandoned all use of the entire tract, it should not continue to hold title indefinitely, and the land should not remain unoccupied and without care. If the west half of the tract is conveyed to the High School District, the property will be used for public and educational purposes. The importance and value of judicial determination of the question of ownership would not justify the expense of such a legal proceeding; the title guaranty policy along with the agreement between the District and the University should give reasonable protection. The Dean of the College of Agriculture, the Legal Counsel, and the VicePresident and Comptroller recommend, and I concur, that the west half of the tract be conveyed as specified in the following resolution upon the conditions set forth therein, and that the Comptroller and the Secretary of the Board be authorized to execute and deliver a quit claim deed to convey the property upon these conditions. Resolution WHEREAS, by deed bearing date of July 1, 1915, one Thomas G. Dean and Mary Dean, his wife, of Randolph County, Illinois, conveyed to the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois and their successors in office a tract of land, situated in said county, containing twenty acres more or less and described as follows: Beginning at a stone at the northwest corner of the S. E. Quarter of the S. E. Quarter of Section 36, T 4 S, R 6 W, Randolph County, Illinois, thence running east along the north line of said S. E. Quarter of the S. E. Quarter of said Section 36 for a distance of 1,177.5 l e e t > thence running south parallel to and 147.5 feet west of the east line of said Section 36 for a distance of 727.5 feet, thence running west parallel to and 592.5 feet north of the south line of said Section 36 for a distance of 1,181 feet to the west line of said S. E. Quarter of the S. E. Quarter of said Section 36, thence running north along said west line of the S. E. Quarter of the S. E. Quarter of said Section 36 for a distance of 727.5 feet more or less to the point of beginning; which deed is recorded in Book 78 at page 63 of the records of the Recorder's Office of Randolph County, Illinois; and WHEREAS, said deed provided that the grantee therein was to use the tract conveyed to it thereby for the purpose of agricultural experimentation and demonstration and further provided that if the grantee should discontinue using said land for said purposes for a period of more than two consecutive years it shall, when requested, convey by proper deed the west half of said above described tract of land to the original purchasers of the sixty-four lots of the Thomas G. Dean Addition to the City of Sparta, Illinois, and WHEREAS, the grantee in said deed has now discontinued the use by it of said land for said purposes for a period of more than two consecutive years, has