Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1942 [PAGE 398]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

1941]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

395

Mr. Davis reported that the committee approved the nominations, and moved that the report be approved and the directors elected as recommended. Mr. Adams raised as a point of order that the nominations should have come to the Board before going to the Committee on Athletic Activities. President Cleary overruled the objection. Mr. Livingston proposed that there should be on the Board of Directors one alumnus of a class since 1926. After discussion, Mr. Davis' motion was adopted by the following vote: Aye, President Cleary, Mr. Davis, Mr. Jensen, Dr. Meyer, Mr. Wieland; no, Mr. Adams, Mr. Livingston; absent, Mr. Fornof, Mr. Green, Mrs. Grigsby, Mr. Karraker. On motion of Mr. Jensen, the President of the University was requested to refer the action of the Board of Directors of the Athletic Association, if and when taken, to the Committee on Athletic Activities for consideration and recommendation to the Board.

ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOL OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS (2) T h e report of the Committee on Athletic Activities, as approved by the Board of Trustees on July 15, includes the following recommendation: "4. T h a t consideration be given to again placing the School of Physical Education under the Athletic Director to the end that there should be a close and understanding cooperation, that the Athletic Director and major coaches shall actively teach in the School of Physical Education, including summer school sessions, and that coaches as well as the Athletic Director shall spend the major portion of each year, among other duties at the University, in closer contact with alumni, high-school, and public bodies." T h e proposal to place the School of Physical Education under the Director of Athletics involves considerations of educational as well as of administrative policy. Consequently, before any such far-reaching change in organization and University policy is considered by the Board of Trustees the proposal and the entire complex of questions it presents should be referred to the University Senate—the general faculty—for study, so that this body may have the opportunity to exercise its statutory function of making recommendations touching matters of general educational policy. The organization of the School of Physical Education and the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics under one administrative head is sound educationally and will be successful only if there be appointed to this position a man professionally qualified to administer ( a ) the educational program of an academic division of the University, (b) the program of intercollegiate athletics, and (c) the program of intramural sports. In other words, he must combine the qualifications of an athletic director and of an academic dean. The late Director George Huff was such a man for he was one of the pioneers in the development of intercollegiate sports and of professional training in the field of physical education and athletic coaching. Such men are indeed hard to find and not readily available. Consequently, I should be definitely opposed to the change in organization proposed unless an individual of such qualifications can be found and funds are available to establish a budget adequate for this purpose. In any case, I wish to point out that this particular item in the Committee's recommendation is not a matter for consideration by the Board of Directors of the Athletic Association, and I recommend that it be referred to the University Senate for study and recommendations.

On motion of Dr. Meyer, this matter was referred to the University Senate for consideration and recommendation.