Repository: UIHistories Project: UI Foundation Series - Need for Student Union (1937) [PAGE 4]

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To be sure, there has been in the past alumni giving, the most notable example of which was the $2,000,000 for the Memorial Stadium, However, after the Stadium campaign was over, enthusiasm waned because there was no definite objective, there was no continuing effort to keep the alumni interested. Even so, that campaign did more than build the Stadium. It awakened and inspired the interest of our alumni, it increased the prestige of the University with the general public, and it attracted better students to our doors. The effect of this renewed interest was felt for several years. A review of the accomplishments of these years led to a decision to create a more permanent and comprehensive system of giving, in which all alumni and friends of the University could cooperate. The Illini Plan of Coordination was born. Its broad program, successfully launched among the alumni in two hundred communities in the nation, has, among others, two essential and permanent objectives. The first is a matter of service to high school students, to inform them properly about their State University, what it has for them, and the opportunities it offers; the second is the creation of an Illini Foundation Fund which will make possible the realization of the needs heretofore mentioned. As President Ekblaw of the University of Illinois Alumni Association said at the 1937 Founders' Day broadcast: "Powerful and confident in its youthful strength, Illinois will stride forward to accomplishments yet undreamed of if every individual one of you will take some specific interest, do some one particular thing, for your Alma Mater, and do that thing with earnestness, with determination, and with consistent effort."

George Huff Gymnasium, so named by the Board of as a tribute to the memory of Illinois9 famous athletic

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of English in Shakespeare has been termed by British commentary as the most important to come from America, and its research work on Milton is generally recognized as the most important in the world today* The training of classical scholars, the work in the Scandinavian languages and culture, the leadership in political science, and research work in mathematics are universally recognized and world famous* And don't forget that research is in addition to its teaching, its extension work and the various other activities of this great university* Research, besides its contributions to human welfare, is valuable in that it provides new facts and a stimulus to leaching* Of a different character, but important in the educational field, was the establishment at the University of the first offices of the deans of men and of women* These two offices were the forerunners of the many phases of personnel work so prevalent now in colleges and universities* The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is today a leader among state universities in individualized education through the development of a tutorial system* There are so many things in the everyday life of the alumnus which he takes for granted that he often fails to give credit to, and personally take pride in, his Alma Mater*

I L L I N I FOUNDATION FUND NOW ESTABLISHED A

S PREVIOUSLY mentioned, two permaL nent objectives have emerged from the many discussions of the Illini Plan of Coordination: Service to high school students, and the establishment of the Illini Foundation Fund.

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ILLINOIS MARCHES ON

C O M U C H for some of the things the University of Illinois has accomplished* N o w for ^ some things we have to do* We do not have, for instance, as many universities do, a permanent system for alumni giving, a system which will build up a fund to be drawn upon from time to time as needed for such things as:

(1) A n e w U n i o n Building. (2) Scholarships, particularly those of sufficient value to pay all expenses, leaving students free to make the most of their educations. (Unless Illinois and other midwest universities set up more scholarships of this type, more and more of our best students will be drawn to other institutions.) (3) Endowed professorships. (4) Commercial development of important discoveries. (5) Works of art, museums, memorials. ,

This second objective will look toward the building of the new U n i o n Building, the creation of scholarships, and other worthy projects to be decided upon after careful consideration by the University Foundation Board, and consultation with University authorities. The organization and campaign work in connection with the Foundation Fund will be handled by the Gifts and Endowment Committee, which will report to the University Foundation, the trustee of the Fund. The University of Illinois Foundation was created for just such purposes as this. Its constitution says: "To assist in developing and increasing the facilities of the U n i v e r s i t y of I l l i n o i s for

* For more complete statements see the booklet, "Your First Year at Illinois"; also the general University catalog. Copies gladly sent free.

Woman's Building —Houses Home Economics, the Dean of Women and other activities. Swimming classes are still held there. Built in!905,with additions in 1912 and 1923