Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1948 [PAGE 976]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

1948]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

975

ceptable candidate. In every case the award shall be made to a young man or young woman who is acceptable both to the Scholarship Committee of Illini Scholarships, Inc., and to the University Committee on Undergraduate Scholarships. 5. All parties agree that once a scholarship has been awarded it will be maintained without interruption as long as the recipient is a student in residence at the University and is maintaining a satisfactory scholastic record. 6. T h e recipient of the scholarship shall receive in writing from the University Committee on Undergraduate Scholarships a statement of the terms and conditions of the scholarship as outlined in this Scholarship Plan. T h e Plan has been approved by all University officials concerned. I recommend that the offer of these scholarships be accepted and that the Bursar of the University be authorized to receive and disburse the funds given to the University by Illini Scholarships, Inc., for this purpose. The number of these scholarships will vary from year to year so that the exact amount of funds to be turned over to the University can not be specified in advance. Two of these scholarships were awarded, in accordance with the Plan, by Illini Scholarships, Inc., before the beginning of the academic year 1947-1948 and the organization paid the first semester installments directly to the scholarship holders. The University has received $1,750 to cover the payments due on these scholarships for the remaining seven semesters. I recommend approval of this plan and acceptance of the funds for these scholarships.

On motion of Mr. Williamson, this plan was approved and the acceptance of funds was authorized as recommended.

NORVAL H. PIERCE TRUST (6) On March 5, 1929, Dr. Norval H . Pierce, who was for many years Professor of Surgery and of Otolaryngology in the University of Illinois College of Medicine, and a distinguished member of the medical profession, set up a trust, naming the Northern Trust Company of Chicago as Trustee, for the benefit of Mrs. Drusilla W. Pierce, his former wife. The primary purpose of the trust is to provide a life income for Mrs. Pierce. The trust provides that in the event Mrs. Pierce predeceased Doctor Pierce the principal of the trust would be deliverable to him, and he also reserved the power to dispose of the principal of the trust estate by will or by deed. In default of such disposal, the trust instrument provides for a distribution of the trust estate, following the death of Mrs. Pierce, of four-ninths to the University of Illinois, three-ninths to St. Luke's Hospital in Chicago, one-ninth to the American Otological Society, Incorporated, and one-ninth to the Chicago League for the H a r d of Hearing, Incorporated. T h e provision naming the University of Illinois as a beneficiary is as follows: " ( 1 ) Four-ninths (4/9) thereof to University of Illinois, for the use of its College of Medicine, for research, in such branches of Medicine and generally in such manner as the settlor may in his lifetime, at any time and from time to time, designate in writing, and in default of such designation, for such research as the trustees or other proper officers of the University of Illinois may in their discretion deem best;" No such designation was made by Doctor Pierce. On June 20, 1931, he executed his will which named Johns Hopkins University as residuary legatee. Doctor Pierce died in October, 1946. Mrs. Pierce is still living, in Chicago. Counsel for Johns Hopkins University has contended that the residuary clause in the will constitutes an exercise of Doctor Pierce's power of disposal of the principal of the trust estate, and that therefore the University of Illinois and the other beneficiaries designated in the trust have no rights therein. The controversy involves such questions of law and fact as this contention of counsel for Johns Hopkins University, and whether Doctor Pierce was domiciled in the State of Illinois at the time he executed the trust agreement and consequently whether the law of California or the law of Illinois shall apply. California has a statute which declares that a general residuary clause not referring to such a power of disposal, nor to the property covered thereby, will constitute exercise