Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1950 [PAGE 1077]

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BOARD OF TRUSTEES

[April 19

MATTERS PRESENTED BY PRESIDENT STODDARD

The Board considered in executive session the following matters presented by the President of the University.

RECOMMENDATIONS RELATING TO PATENTABLE DISCOVERIES ( 1 ) A. Dr. C. S. Marvel of the Department of Chemistry reports the discovery by himself and Dr. B. R. Bluestein, a former graduate student who worked under him last year, of the reaction of a chlorine-containing polymer with triethylphosphite to produce an organic phosphorus derivative which is slow burning. The discovery appears to have potential value in the preparation of flame resistant materials, but a considerable amount of further research and development will be necessary, and there is no assurance that the ultimate result would justify the cost of securing a patent. On the basis of advice from members of the Department of Chemistry staff, the Chairman of the University Research Board recommends that the discovery be released to the discoverers. B. Edward W. Ernst, Special Research Assistant in Electrical Engineering, reports the development of "An Anticipator Circuit for Reducing the Effective Thermal Time Lag," an improved form of temperature-measuring device which may be patentable. This development results from an Engineering Experiment Station research program sponsored by the Bird Electronic Corporation of Cleveland, Ohio. The Chairman of the University Research Board recommends that the University of Illinois Foundation be requested to have a patent search made to determine the novelty of this invention, and that if it appears to be patentable, an application for a patent to be assigned to the University of Illinois Foundation be filed. C. Associate Professor G. I. Wallace, of the Department of Bacteriology, and Mr. Walter Zygmunt, a graduate assistant in that Department, have isolated a bacterium which produces an antibiotic substance which may be of therapeutic importance. This substance seems to be effective against various disease-producing bacteria, and appears not to be toxic to animals even in rather large doses. To carry forward from this point the development of the substance as a useful thermotherapeutic agent is a long and costly process best carried out in cooperation with a pharmaceutical manufacturer. Control of possible patents by such a manufacturer is a necessary concession in securing the manufacturer's support. The University Research Board has considered this matter and has also consulted Professors Herbert E. Carter of the Department of Chemistry and Halvor O. Halvorson of the Department of Bacteriology. It is the judgment of the Research Board that the public interest will be best served if the discovery of this antibiotic substance is released to the discoverers so that the3' can negotiate with pharmaceutical manufacturers for the production, study, and development, and the Research Board so recommends. I concur in these recommendations.

On motion of Mrs. Watkins, these recommendations were adopted.

LEAVE OF ABSENCE FOR PRESIDENT STODDARD (2) A request for leave of absence from May 9 to June 15, to enable him to attend a meeting of U N E S C O in Florence, Italy. O n m o t i o n of M r . N i c k e l l , this leave w a s granted a s r e q u e s t e d . USE OF UNIVERSITY PREMISES FOR POLITICAL MEETINGS (3) Following considerable campus discussion in meetings and through the press, the Student Senate on March 8, 1950, passed the following resolution: I. Political speakers are not allowed to appear on the campus. I I . This restriction stems from a resolution passed by the Board of Trustees in 1890. "Action: On motion of Mr. Bennett it was resolved that hereafter the University buildings and grounds be not used for political purposes."