Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1946 [PAGE 364]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

1945]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

36l

proper, to call attention to the urgent needs of the University, to secure as much as possible, and to make such adjustments as may be necessary.

UNIVERSITY POST-WAR BUILDING PROGRAM (2) On January 26 there appeared in the press an announcement of the recommendations made by the Illinois P o s t - W a r Planning Commission for public works construction by the State of Illinois during the first biennium following the war. On February 2, I wrote Mr. Oscar Nelson, Executive Secretary of the Commission, asking for a statement of the Commission's recommendations relating to the University of Illinois Building Program. H e has sent me this information which confirms and amplifies what appeared in the press. A comparison of the building programs (1) as recommended by the University Building P r o g r a m Committee, (2) as approved by the Board of Trustees, and (3) as recommended by the Commission is shown in the "Analysis of Building P r o g r a m for the First Post-War Biennium," a copy of which was sent to each member of the Board previous to this meeting. An examination of the three programs shows that the one approved by the Board of Trustees differs from the recommendations of the University Building P r o g r a m Committee by the addition of $2,300,000 for a Health and Physical Education Building. T h e program as recommended by the Commission differs from that submitted by the Board of Trustees by including the betatron and omitting four buildings: Animal Husbandry Laboratories $ 435 O O O Chemistry Laboratories 1 100 000 Mechanical Engineering Laboratories I 233 000 Dairy Husbandry Laboratories 275 000 Total $3 043 000 I also sent each member of the Board a "Memorandum Concerning P r o gram of the Illinois P o s t - W a r Planning Commission for the First P o s t - W a r Biennium Building P r o g r a m of the University of Illinois," dated January 30, 1945, and prepared by Professor W . C. Huntington, Chairman of the University Building Program Committee. A copy of this memorandum is being given to the Secretary of the Board for record. This memorandum, with which I agree, discusses the significance of the differences between the program as recommended by the Board of Trustees and that recommended by the Commission. These changes would affect the educational and research programs of the University so seriously that I recommend that the Board of Trustees request the Illinois PostW a r Planning Commission: 1. T o reconsider its recommendation in the light of the total University program and restore the omitted buildings. 2. If it is the judgment of the Commission that these omitted items cannot be restored without adjustments elsewhere in the program in terms of the total amount of money involved, to approve a total allotment of $14,669,000 for the University but remove the provision for the Health and Physical Education Building from its recommendations, leaving its consideration to the General Assembly as a project separate from the University's Building Program, thus permitting the restoration of the other items. If this can be done, Professor Huntington and I are of the opinion that we can include the four omitted buildings within the total of $14,669,000. T h e alternative proposal would be in line with the request made by Senator Everett R. Peters, Representatives T o m M. Garman, Charles W . Clabaugh, and Ora D. Dillavou, representing the Twenty-Fourth Senatorial District, and presented to the Board of Trustees on November 30 when they asked that the Board of Trustees do not include the funds for the Health and Physical Education Building in the University's building program but endorse the introduction by them of a separate appropriation bill for this project. T h e Executive Secretary of the Commission has stated that the Commission will be willing to give the University a hearing.

On motion of Dr. Meyer, the Board voted unanimously to eliminate