Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1962 [PAGE 1337]

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1334

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

[February 21

had agreed to sign. By the spring of 1959 approximately 20 per cent of the off-campus housing spaces were pledged to be available on a nondiscriminatory basis. Late in 1959 further study of the Code was undertaken, with a view to its possible revision to insure more general compliance with University practices. Proposed revisions were submitted to and approved by the Legal Counsel who pointed out that if the proposed regulations resulted in the dissipation of offcampus housing to the extent that qualified students could not find housing, the University's obligation to admit and educate students would take precedence over its commitment to nondiscrimination. Accordingly, on March 18, I960, a revision of the Code was approved by which newly established commercial rooming houses would not receive University approval unless their owners agreed not to discriminate. When ownership of presently approved housing changed, the new owners would be required to accept a nondiscriminatory policy or face nonapproval. Excepted from these regulations were houses which were the dwellings of their owners and which provided no more than three rooms for rent. Since the spring of 1960 the University has continued to seek compliance. As of January 30, 1962, an over-all percentage of 49 per cent of off-campus space was available on a nondiscriminatory basis (71 per cent of the space for women; 44 per cent for men). Further, student groups have been interested in working with student leaders in, the houses to seek additional pledges of nondiscrimination by means of persuasion and education. Student Organizations The existence of racially restrictive membership clauses in the organic laws or avowed policies of student organizations, social organizations in particular, has been the subject of national debate for many years. At the University of Illinois, in the Code of Fair Educational Practice issued in 1958, the problem was seen as "primarily a student problem" which therefore "should be solved by the students themselves." However, the Code noted, "the University encourages student organizations to eliminate qualifications based on race, creed, or national origin." The Code also stipulated that, although the University would supply information gathered at student registration to student organizations, it would not supply "information concerning the race, creed, or national origin of students for the specific purpose of membership selection by student social organizations." Moreover, representatives of such organizations were informed that periodic reports on their progress in the elimination of discriminatory clauses or policies would be expected by the University. On October 1, 1959, following discussion and approval by the Student Senate, the Urbana-Champaign Senate Committee on Student Affairs, and fraternity and sorority groups, the Dean of Students issued a supplement to the Code of Undergraduate Student Affairs. The supplement stated, "No new student organization which has a clause restricting membership on the basis of race, religion, or national origin, shall be granted University recognition." The supplementary provision was applied during the 1959-60 academic year to the establishment of two new organizations of foreign students, organized on the basis of national origin. LITIGATION T O C O N S T R U E PROVISIONS O F ILLINOIS P U R C H A S I N G ACT (43) At the request of the President, Mr. James J. Costello, Legal Counsel, submitted a report, on behalf of Mr. Ralph F. Lesemann, Special Counsel, on the case instituted in the Circuit Court of Champaign County by a number of heating and plumbing contractors, doing business in Champaign County, against the University for the purpose of securing a declaratory judgment construing the provisions of the Illinois Purchasing Act of 1957. Prior to enactment of this law, the state of Illinois and its agencies, including the University, had an option to let construction, remodeling, renovation, repair, and other work upon their buildings out on contract or to purchase the equipment and materials needed for the work and have the latter performed by their own employees. Also, the State, the University, and other state agencies, if they saw fit to let such work out to contractors, were not required by law to award contracts upon a competitive bidding basis; nevertheless the University, as a matter