Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1946 [PAGE 952]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

1945]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

945

6. While this can not be classed as a reason for the camp, an indirect gain is the effect of such camps on the "esprit de corps" of the students in the department. T h e educational program contemplated would consist of surveying instruction covering a period of eight weeks during July and August between the freshman and sophomore years. Attendance at summer camp would be required of all civil engineering students, with provisions for exemptions in cases of students transferring from other institutions when the requirement would result in unreasonable delay in graduation. Other engineering students would be permitted to elect attending the camp. A fee to be established by appropriate University action would be charged for instruction. Charges would be made for board and camp operation on a cost basis and for maintenance of camp area, mess hall, kitchen, and lodging equipment. Students would be responsible for housekeeping and laundry and would furnish bedding except mattresses. T h e University would furnish cots, mattresses, cooking equipment, and dishes. T h e cost of instruction would be offset by a reduction in teaching load and costs on the campus. T h e Department of Civil Engineering is understaffed. Additions for instruction in surveying will have to be made, and if the camp is established the number of such new staff additions can be reduced, thus offsetting the cost of instruction at camp. Summer surveying camps are now operated by 52 universities, and 14 others operate summer surveying schools. Such a facility for University of Illinois students was first proposed 35 years ago, and was considered subsequently from time to time. T h e initial cost of adapting Camp Rabideau for this use would be $10,000. Annual maintenance cost would not exceed $1,000 a year. T h e rent to be paid by the University for the camp would be $100 a year. It is anticipated that the camp would have an enrollment of 60 students the first summer and would increase to 100 in subsequent years. T h e Department of Civil Engineering estimates that on the basis of 60 students the total cost of salaries of staff members and their expenses would be $1,600 less than the same amount of instruction would cost on the campus, and on the basis of 100 students the saving would be $2,600. This is aside from the realization of any fee charged for summer camp tuition. There is submitted with this a detailed prospectus concerning the summer surveying camp. O n r e c o m m e n d a t i o n of t h e C o m m i t t e e o n B u i l d i n g s a n d G r o u n d s a n d on m o t i o n of M r . M c K e l v e y , this p r o g r a m w a s a u t h o r i z e d a n d a p p r o v e d . T h e a p p r o p r i a t i o n of $ 1 0 , 0 0 0 w a s m a d e , b y t h e f o l l o w i n g vote: Aye, M r . Davis, M r . Fornof, M r s . Grigsby, M r . Livingston, M r . M c K e l v e y , D r . M e y e r ; no, n o n e ; absent, M r . Green, D r . L u k e n , M r . McLaughlin, M r . Nickell, M r . Williamson. ASSIGNMENTS OF FUNDS FOR STUDENT HOUSING (12) T h e appropriations made by the Sixty-Fourth General Assembly to the University for the biennium 1045-1047 include $1,500,000 for student residence halls and equipment. T h e General Assembly also passed legislation authorizing the Board of Trustees to issue bonds to finance the construction of residence halls. Such projects require about two years for completion after funds become available because the building must be designed, working drawings prepared, and bids secured before any construction contracts can be let. T h e planning of the University's housing program began more than a year ago, and the hearings on this legislation started in December, 1044, before there were any indications that the war would end in 1945. At that time it appeared that these facilities would not be needed before September, 1047. On July 30, 1045, the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees authorized the use of the appropriation for student residence halls for the following construction program: (1) A building of 221 apartments for married students. (2) A women's residence hall to accommodate 200 students. (3) T h e construction of additional housing units to be financed through bond issues.