Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1950 [PAGE 1093]

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IO84

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

[ A p r i l IO,

V O C A T I O N A L AGRICULTURE (33) A statement on the matter of the training of teachers of vocational agriculture.

O n motion of M r . McLaughlin, the President of the Board was authorized to communicate the following statement to the State Board on Vocational Education.

On two previous occasions, in 1939 and 1947, the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois has taken official cognizance of proposals to establish Smith-Hughes teacher-training programs in agriculture in State institutions other than the University of Illinois. It came to the attention of the Board of Trustees at its meeting on April 19, 1950, that the State Board for Vocational Education will soon take action on the application of the Illinois State Normal University for the approval of a program of teacher training in vocational agriculture in order to qualify for federal funds. The Board of Trustees directed me to protest against such approval on the ground that it will result in unnecessary duplication of educational facilities and of public expense. It should not be overlooked that each dollar of federal funds received must be matched by a dollar of state funds. The University of Illinois has been training teachers of vocational agriculture under the Smith-Hughes program since it was established in 1917. The University of Illinois has ample facilities to meet all demands for teachers of vocational agriculture. The priority of the University in this field, however, is a secondary consideration. The real public issue is: Does the state of Illinois need additional facilities to meet the needs of the high schools for such teachers? The facts speak for themselves. There are at present 489 teachers of vocational agriculture under the Smith-Hughes program in the high schools of Illinois. The average tenure of service is about eight years. The largest number of replacements in any one year was fifty-four. The University of Illinois will this year graduate 102 students who will be qualified to teach vocational agriculture under the Smith-Hughes requirements. In 1945 a Commission of the General Assembly to survey higher educational facilities in Illinois had a study made of the preparation of teachers of vocational agriculture. T h e Commission's report to the General Assembly included a recommendation that the State Board for Vocational Education approve no institution other than the University of Illinois for the preparation of teachers of vocational agriculture. T h e general pattern throughout the country is that the preparation of Smith-Hughes teachers of vocational agriculture is a function of the land-grant college. A healthy competition is assured among these numerous colleges. If some of the Smith-Hughes graduates of the University of Illinois are going into other lines of work it is due, in part, to the surplus of teachers in the specialty of vocational agriculture. There is not now a demand, nor is there likely to be a demand, for more teachers of vocational agriculture than can be supplied by the. University of Illinois. The shortage of well-prepared teachers lies elsewhere. COOK COUNTY SCHOOL OF NURSING (34) A request from Dr. Tvy that Grant Hospital be added to the list of affiliates with the Cook County School of Nursing. T h i s m a t t e r w a s r e f e r r e d to the C o m m i t t e e on Chicago D e p a r t m e n t s for consideration and recommendation. CASE OF JESSIE TAYLOR VS. BOARD OF TRUSTEES (35) As authorized by the Board of Trustees on February 16, 1950 (Minutes, page 989), Mr. Joseph H . Hinshaw of the law firm of Hinshaw and Culbertson, Chicago, was employed as special counsel for the University in the complaint filed in the Court of Claims by Jessie Taylor against the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois claiming damages for alleged negligence and malpractice by the staff of the Department of Operative Dentistry. The case came up for a hearing before the Court Commissioner in Chicago on April 4. After the Claimant had testified, Counsel for the University filed a