Repository: UIHistories Project: Book - 16 Years (Edmund James) [PAGE 270]

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Sixteen Years at the University of Illinois

Bureau into the War Service Exchange which was then under the supervision of the Adjutant General's Office. Thereafter the co-operation of the University with the War Department consisted largely in classifying its graduates who intended to enter the service either as regular army or navy men or as civilians. The extension division of the Household Science Department organized for a food conservation campaign. During the year 1917-18 the division served 20 types of organizations thruout the state reaching through them more than 70,000 housekeepers. The campaign which has been launched by this division was carried on locally since January 1, 1918, by a subcommittee of the University War Committee.51 On September 11, 1917, the Board of Trustees authorized the President to take out, on behalf of the University, a membership in the American University Union. The object of this organization was to furnish social facilities to graduates of American universities connected with the military and naval forces in Europe. In March, 1917, the Union asked the University of Illinois to contribute $1,000 towards the support of the Paris Branch Union. The Trustees requested that the Alumni be invited to subscribe this amount, and accordingly the matter was turned over to the Chairman of the University War Committee. The campaign which was conducted under his direction netted in all $1,506.50.52 As the University continued to participate in an ever increasing number of war activities, it became evident that there should be some centralization of effort as well as a general supervision over all University agencies seeking to promote war work among faculty and students. Therefore, the Board of Trustees in December, 1917, authorized the appointment of a University War Committee whose duty it should be to coordinate and energize University war activities, to endeavor to place students and alumni where they could best serve the

Besponse of the University to the Call of War by Dr. B E Pownll University of Illinois Bulletin No. 52 » "Report of the War Committee, University of Illinois Bulletin No.

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