Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1950 [PAGE 1002]

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195°]

UNIVERSITY OF I L L I N O I S

993

The President of the Illinois State Federation of Labor reports that the Federation has appointed Mr. Robert L. Gordon of Urbana, former Director of the Illinois State Department of Labor, as the labor representative. I have appointed Mr. Donald E. Dickason, Director of Nonacademic Personnel, as the University's representative. This requires no action by the Board of Trustees and is being reported as a matter of record only.

This report was received for record.

TRANSFER OF THE FORESTRY TO GENERAL UNIVERSITY PURPOSES

(5) On the basis of various discussions and proposals, I recommend that the tract of land on Lincoln and Pennsylvania Avenues, now consisting of about eight acres (originally 18.25 acres) known as "The Forestry," be transferred from the Department of Forestry to the University, for general purposes. It is proposed, for the present, to develop it as a center of outdoor recreation and a picnic area. It would become an open, cleared forest under the supervision of the School of Physical Education. It would be, at the same time, a land reserve as sites for future major construction. In 1871 this land was assigned to the Department of Horticulture. In 1916 it was transferred to the Physical Plant Department. In 1941 it was transferred to the new Department of Forestry. At that time the Board minutes referred to the erection of a "non-climable fence of attractive design." Thus far no one has been able to blueprint such a fence; once climbed, it would indeed lead to Elysian fields! The Forestry has served its time as a laboratory for students. It has become a problem in supervision and maintenance. Accordingly, if the Board approves this recommendation, I shall ask the Committee on Nonrecurring Appropriations to earmark sufficient funds for the immediate development of a forestry plantation on the McCullough Farm recently acquired by the University.

On motion of Mrs. Holt, this transfer was made as recommended.

STATUS OF AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT FIELD AT DEKALB, ILLINOIS (6) From the estates of the late Senator Harry G. Wright and his wife, H a r r i ette A. Wright, of DeKalb, Illinois, the University of Illinois received 952 acres of farm lands in DeKalb County as an endowment of undergraduate scholarships. In 1940 an agricultural experiment field at DeKalb, which had been leased by the University for many years from the Fairview Park Cemetery Association, had to be abandoned because it was needed for cemetery expansion. In 1945 the President of the University authorized the assignment of eighty acres of one of the Wright Farms for use as an experiment field to replace the field formerly leased. This operation has become a permanent part of the Agricultural Experiment Station's program and is known as the Northern Illinois Experimental Field. Residents of DeKalb County have made grants of funds to the University from time to time, now totaling $31,070, for improvements on this field. I recommend that this area of the Wright Farms be transferred from the endowment to the educational program of the University until further notice.

On motion of Mr. McLaughlin, this land was transferred as recommended.

REVISIONS IN REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION TO GRADUATE WORK AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN (7) The University Senate recommends the following revisions in the requirements for admission to graduate work in the Departments at Urbana-Champaign effective at the beginning of the academic year 1950-1951: 1. Admission with Full Status. Admission to the Graduate College is granted to graduates of institutions whose requirements for the bachelor's degree are substantially equivalent to those of the University of Illinois, provided that the applicant's undergraduate grade-point average for that portion of work which represents the last 50 per cent of the hours completed to secure the bachelor's degree,