Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1944 [PAGE 1051]

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1048

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

1905, and put into effect in 1911, the nonacademic employees of the University of Illinois came under the authority of the State Civil Service Commission. Under a working agreement with the Civil Service Commission, the University was allowed approximately 150 positions which were prefixed by the title "University." To illustrate, a University Junior Clerk-Stenographer and a University Senior Accountant existed as special position classifications to fill the needs of the University in recognition of the difference between a secretary in the University and one at a noneducational institution. In 1940 the State Civil Service Commission announced to the University that these 150 special classifications had been abolished and that henceforth university vacancies would be treated no differently from those in other parts of the state government. Following this change the University had difficulty: (1) in getting applicants certified to positions within a reasonable time, and (2) in obtaining individuals whose qualifications met its needs. This caused the University to sponsor a bill to amend the State Civil Service Act so as to exclude employees of the University of Illinois from the state civil service system and to direct and authorize the Board of Trustees of the University to establish its own classified civil service, covering nonacademic positions. This bill was passed by the General Assembly and signed by the Governor on July 22, 1941. The University then set up its own system of classification, which went into effect in mid-1942. The conclusion seems justified therefore that the University, in setting up its own classified service, took a step which will not only improve the efficiency of its nonacademic staff, but which will also distinctly strengthen the institution against possible political patronage.

In this section the Commission has examined the manner in which members of the Board of Trustees have been selected, the relations which the governors of the State have sustained toward the University, the operation of civil service among the employees of the University, and the exercise of administrative powers by the Board of Trustees and by the President of the University in relation to the University as a whole and to the faculty of the University. In none of these connections has the Commission found evidence to substantiate the accusation that a political empire has virtually been built at the University.

[30 —A.C.E. Report]