A Few Straight Questions | About Your University By David Kinley Acting President, University of Illinois DO YOU KNOW THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, WHAT IT IS, AND WHAT IT DOES? DO YOU KNOW That the physical plant of the Uni- versity of Illinois comprises sixty buildings, a farm of 990 acres, and 235 acres of other campus land? That the student enrolment for the year will be near 10,000? That more than 1,000 degrees are conferred each year? DO YOU KNOW That the professional and clerical staff of the University numbers 1026; other em- ployees (janitors, grounds, farm, etc.) 266, making a total of 1292 people on the regular payroll of the University, besides a large number of students on part time employ- ment? That in the departments at Urbana- Champaign alone 4835 classes are held each week? That over 10,000 samples of soil have been collected from all over the State and are being tested and classified by the University? That the work of the University against the Hessian fly, the chinch bug, oat smut, flag smut, bitter rot, apple scab, and other pests, has saved millions of bushels of wheat, oats, corn, apples, and other crops? That ten separate and distinct methods are used to disseminate dairy information to the dairy farmers of Illinois? That the University developed a process of ice cream making which saves 30% of the sugar previously used? That authorities have said that the Uni- versity of Illinois has accomplished as much in the problems of coal production and coal conservation as any similar agency in the United States? That altho the University library con- tains 444,738 volumes, the student de- mand for the use of books greatly exceeds the supply? That your University is not adequately supported and must have a much larger income from the next legislature? That a larger income depends on your support? 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS What is the University of Illinois? Just what does it do? How big is it? How many buildings has it? How large is its faculty? These questions are frequently put, not only by people outside of the State, but by Illinoisans. It is not unusual for a stranger, when he first comes to the University, to exclaim in surprise, “I had no idea that Illinois was such an institution. I looked for a college with two or three buildings.” The truth is that only a very small per- centage of the people of Illinois know their University. It is not surprising, therefore, that they wonder at the amount of appro- priations asked for. A Public Service as well as a Teaching Institution Many people think of the University as a teaching institution only, a kind of enlarged high school. This is a mistake. A uni- versity, particularly a state university, is so much more than this that its teaching, in the ordinary sense of the term, repre- sents but a fraction of its service and ex- pense. A university is, in fact, a clearing house for knowledge both old and new, a forum for the discussion of present day problems, and an organization for the solu- tion of these problems and for the discussion of new truth. The University of Illinois performs four distinct functions, all expensive: 1. Teaching the undergraduate body of students, not in set courses most easily taught, but in those which best meet their needs, requiring, of course, constant revi- sion. 2. Training new faculty and executive staff: a university is not only a repository of knowledge and an agency of discovery, but a training place forits own workers. Teachers and research men cannot’ be bought like commodities. The only places where they are produced are these same universities; that is to say, they must be manufactured through the machinery of the institution. 3 3. Investigation and research for the sake of correcting old beliefs and for the dis- covery of new facts, with which not only to improve teaching but to advance the in- dustries and refine the arts of life. 4. Attendance upon meetings, conven- tions, and conferences, educational, industri- al, economic, and social, both national, state, and local, at which leading men meet and discuss questions of progress, and at which the university’s advice and help are sought. It would be difficult to say which one of these four functions costs the most. The different colleges of the University differ in this respect. In the College of Agriculture, for example, the supposition is that one half the funds should go for research. Therefore much less than the total energy of the scientific staff is available for teaching students. The University as a Teachin¢g Institution As a teaching institution, the University comprises eight colleges, four schools, and a half dozen auxiliary bureaus and divisions, such as the extension service and the experi- ment stations, which are exclusively re- search in character. 1. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, which teaches not only its own students, 2,547 in number, but also the students of all the other colleges’ and schools in the fundamental subjects. 2. The College of Agriculture, with 1,215 students. Among the noted departments of the College of Agriculture is that of Home Economics. 3. The College of Engineering, with 1,768 students. 4. The College of Commerce, with 1,58 students. : 5. The College of Education, with 87 students. This college has a new building, but the University does not have money to furnish equipment and staff for it. 6. The College of Law, with 109 students. 7. The School of Library Science, pre- paring now 34 librarians. 4 8. The School of Music, with 119 students. Among the subjects taught are piano, voice, violin, organ, and public school music. | 9. The Graduate School, with an en- rolment of 380, is the educational capstone of the University’s work. 10. The Summer Session. The registra- tion last summer was 1,314. 11. The College of Medicine, in Chicago, with 308 students. 12. The College of Dentistry, in Chicago, with 196 students. 18. The School of Pharmacy, in Chicago, with 209 students. 14. Other great departments of instruc- tion are our Military and Physical Edu- cation divisions and our Health Service. At present the military work requires 103 cadet officers and 6 U. S. Army officers, furnishing training for infantry, cavalry, artillery, signal corps, and engineering corps. Physical Education for both men and women is required. Our Health Service has - made a physical examination of every student in the University at Urbana. Administrative Divisions of the University Attention may be called particularly to the great administrative organization of our physical plant. In this division lies re- sponsibility for the maintenance of all the sixty buildings of the University, and our heat, light, and water systems. Some idea of the extent of the work of this department may be gained when one remembers that our buildings are furnished with heat, light, steam, and electricity for power, water, and telephone service through underground tunnels and conduits from central stations which are in operation night and day. There are now 6,568 feet of tunnels, 10,105 feet of conduit for the distribution of steam, and 48,850 duct feet of conduit for the dis- tribution of electricity. Heat is supplied from six boilers of 500 h. p. capacity. The physical plant at Chicago, of course, is on a smaller scale, but equally well organized. 5 SIONITH 4O ALISYIAIN]) yuosard Y GIEl-SJO SOU pe Mela] laanleg loytjal Lumoys yup CZE/ G/G/ B/E/ PZiNA P/Gh S// VIE S46/ aL mn ahem eee YOY, HYON JOGO BALL IC * 0007 - Si, ar Acmemare | y a LOY HAY SY) “Ol 2UOS (2k ee The Matter of Salaries The question of better salaries must be considered from the standpoint of the Uni- versity rather than of the faculty. The great fact is that the best men cannot be held in university service at the present scale, nor can young men be attracted to this line of work by the salary prospects. The value of the University to the State and the best use of public funds, depend largely on the kind of men that can be induced to work in public service. The money would be spent whatever the scale of salaries, but how will it be spent? That is the whole question, and it turns upon the kind of men whom the University can hold, and whom it can induce to prepare ade- quately to take the places being so rapidly vacated. by death and other natural causes, in addition to the constant calls of the business world. On pages 6and 7 is a chart showing the relation between enrolment and expend- itures for the the past six years. Line “A’”’ shows the total income of the University from State appropriations, Federal appropriations, student fees, sales, and all other sources. The Federal assign- ment is not available for ordinary expendi- tures. The State appropriations include money for permanent improvements, as well as for operation and maintenance. The last appropriation included, in addition to the mill tax, $300,000 for a medical labora- tory in Chicago, and $25,000 for stables for artillery and cavalry horses in the Military Department. Leaving these out, it is evi- dent that the rate of increase of income is very much lower than the rate of increase of student teaching and other services of the University. The lines in Group ‘‘B”’ show the relation between operating expenditures and enrol- 10 ment. The lowest of the three lines, giving the relative value of total operating expendi- tures, makes allowance for the lower pur- chasing power of money. It is evident that the enrolment of students—to say nothing of the increase in other activities imposed upon the University—trises far more rapidly than the increase in available money for expenses. The group of lines marked “C”’ shows the course of salaries. The lower line makes allowance for the decrease in the purchasing power of money. On page 12 is a diagram showing the increase in the size of classes in certain departments. The overcrowding needs no comment. If there is anything about the University of Illinois that you want to know that this leaflet does not tell you, write a letter to the Acting President of the University. 11 wg INCREASE I S1Z£ OF SECTIONS COLLEGE OF L/BERAL ARTS &- SCHNCES Receeeiteretetiererr PME prey peda wi Classes wlNAl3SHt 1 10 & 20 Srment's 19/5 -St + peerenrceereereer PHAULRL EDS Students (HP Tile ipp aw ae 4 avybx Average Number of Students per gaNrahe Classes in Mathematics ° 4 &7 we ag 27223" ddd Stnatents WS ees Wumber ype Pe Jectap Classes m -story 14