Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1946 [PAGE 431]

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BOARD OF TRUSTEES

[April 6

on this legislation, prepared by Provost Coleman R. Griffith, is submitted for the information of the Board of Trustees: A. Existing Situation 1. Representative Sandquist has introduced House Bill No. 73 amending the School Code so as to provide for four years of college work as a part of the public school system of the City of Chicago. On March 24, 1945, this Bill was given a Do Pass recommendation by the House Committee on Education. 2. Hans Schenk, Vice President of the City Club of Chicago, has requested (a) information regarding necessary enabling legislation on the part of the General Assembly (note: no such legislation, except for appropriation bills, is required) ; (b) information regarding the attitude of the Board of Trustees toward creating a branch of the University of Illinois in Chicago. 3. By its active support of an expanded system of junior colleges, the Board of Trustees has given substantial aid to the City of Chicago, but an increasing number of letters to officers of the University indicate that civic groups in Chicago will not be satisfied by this program. B. Size of the Problem 1. The following facts indicate the existence of a problem of considerable dimensions: Total enrollment: Public secondary schools, Chicago, 1940 145,050 Private secondary schools, Chicago, 1940 23,630 Total graduates: Public high schools, Chicago, 1940 25,795 Private high schools, 1940 4,742 Number of graduates who continued (estimated), from public high schools, Chicago, 1940-1941 8,646 Number of graduates who continued (estimated), from private high schools, Chicago, 1940-1941 2,018 Public junior college enrollment, Chicago, 1940-1941 13,258 Number of Chicago students on Urbana campus, 1940-1941 2,550 C. Existing Resources 1. No provision has been made in the 1945-1947 biennial budget for the creation of a branch of the University in the City of Chicago. 2. None of the funds that may be available should be diverted to this purpose. Existing programs on the Chicago and Urbana campuses are urgently in need of all of the funds that will be available. 3. A limited number of liberal arts courses are now being given in the College of Pharmacy, and this program could be expanded, but it would still fall far short of meeting the express desires of the Chicago groups. D. Recommendations 1. The time has properly come for the Board of Trustees officially to recognize the existence of a problem and to announce the fact that the need for a branch of the University in the City of Chicago is in process of being studied 2. As a part of its announcement, the Board should make it known that it has instructed the President to refer the problem to the Provost for study and recommendation. 3. It is recommended that a special appropriation of $1,000 be made to the Provost to cover the expense of a suitable study. The study ought to include: (a) A further analysis of the number and scholastic aptitude of high school graduates in the Chicago area. (b) The presumable effect of a four-year unit on the development of junior colleges. (c) Favorable locations, including transportation, concentrations of population, socio-economic status of various areas, employment outlets, and kindred matters. ' (d) Instructional costs necessary, capital expenditures, land acquisitions, and administrative relations to the Urbana campus. (e) Types of coordination with the junior colleges, with the possible de-