Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1954 [PAGE 1329]

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1326

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

[April 21

On motion of Mrs. Holt, this recommendation was approved and the Comptroller and the Secretary of the Board were authorized to execute the necessary agreements.

CONTRACT FOR DISPENSING COUNTERS FOR EAST DENTISTRY-MEDICINE-PHARMACY BUILDING (16) The Business Manager of the Chicago Colleges and the Comptroller, with the concurrence of the Chairman of the Administrative Committee for the Chicago Professional Colleges and the Director of the Physical Plant, recommend award of a contract for $28,961 to the Reliance Cabinet Company, Chicago, the lowest bidder, for fabricating fifty-five dispensing counters for the East DentistryMedicine-Pharmacy Building. Plans for this building call for eighty-four counters but the specifications were broken down into twenty-nine units and fifty-five units to permit flexibility since at the time construction contracts were awarded it was not certain that sufficient funds would be available to complete the building. The Reliance Cabinet Company was lowest bidder on both proposals and was awarded the contract for the first twenty-nine of the dispensing counters. As a result of adjustments and economies at other points of construction, funds are available to purchase the remaining fifty-five counters. The Reliance Cabinet Company is willing to fabricate the additional fifty-five counters on the basis of its original lowest bid of $28,961 submitted in February, 1952. The advantages of awarding the contract to this Company are that (a) all the counters will be in the same finish and will match, and (b) this Company having the dies can make delivery within two months so that all the counters can be installed by the plumbing contractor before he moves out of the building. If new bids are taken on the additional counters it will undoubtedly result in a higher cost because there have been two wage increases for cabinet makers in the industry since the original bids were received and another increase is expected. Moreover, if the counters arc not delivered before the plumbing contractor finishes his other work and leaves the building the installation cost will be higher. I concur and recommend that the Comptroller and the Secretary of the Board be authorized to execute this contract.

On motion of Mrs. Watkins, this contract was awarded and the Comptroller and the Secretary of the Board were authorized to execute the same.

CHANGE IN MILITARY DEPOSIT REQUIREMENT (17) On April 19, 1951, the Board of Trustees approved a number of changes in student fees, including the discontinuance of the requirement of a military deposit of $10 to insure the return of military equipment. In lieu of this requirement, officers in the Armed Forces were directed to report a grade of " E " in each case where military equipment is not returned or payment is not made for shortages at the close of the academic year. T h e Committee on Military Affairs has advised the President that the practice of recording a grade of " E " in such cases is no more justified than giving a failing grade in any other course as a penalty for unpaid indebtedness to the University. It recommends that students in such cases be dealt with under existing rules applicable to students having an indebtedness to the University, i.e., that they not be allowed to register and that transcripts of their records not be furnished until the indebtedness is cleared. The Committee further recommends that the Armed Forces be authorized to record a grade of "Incomplete" for students in such cases, which grade will be changed when the indebtedness is cleared. This is an internal administrative matter and the change is being a u t h o r e d , but since it is related to a former action of the Board of Trustees, I am reporting it as a matter of record.

SPECIAL BANK ACCOUNTS FOR GOVERNMENT CONTRACT RESEARCH (18) In order to expedite payments from the government on contract research, two special cash accounts have been arranged by the Office of Naval Research and the Air Force at the First National Bank of Chicago. Cash advances have been deposited in these accounts by these two agencies in the amounts of $300,000 and

On motion of Mr. Nickell, the action of the President was confirmed.