 | Board of Visitors minutes July 1, 1838 |  |
The 1st day of July 1838, the day fixed on by the enactments
of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia
for their stated annual meeting, being Sunday, there was consequently
no meeting of the Board on that day. On the following
day, Monday July 2d, Messrs. Cabell & Cocke appeared, and
were engaged in examining the Book of the Chairman & the Minutes
of the proceedings of the Faculty, & in noting such things
as might seem to require the action of the Board when a quorum
might be formed.
On Tuesday the 3d day of July a quorum was formed by the
addition of Chapman Johnson, Rector, & Thomas J. Randolph to
the number already present, and the Board proceeded to business,
when the following resolutions were adopted.
1. Resolved, that a new edition of the Enactments of the
University to the number of two thousand Copies, be printed,
& that Professor Davis be requested to compile & digest the same.
2. Resolved that the proctor take immediate measures under
the superintendence of the Executive Committee to render the
A communication received from Doct: R. E. Griffith on
the subject of the condition of the roof of his pavilion &c
was referred to the Executive Committee.
The Board then adjourned till tomorrow morning 8 O.Clock.
Wednesday July 4th. The Board met: Present as on yesterday.
1. Resolved that Wm. L. Harris be exempted from the payments
of Rents for Dormitory, for the use of the Library and
for public rooms for the session of 1836-7 and if such rents
or any part of them have been paid, that they be refunded to
Mr. Harris.
2. Resolved that Thomas Woodley be permitted to occupy
the room in Hotel D. lately occupied by Mr. Jas: H. Davis.
Jos: H. Cabell, Jno. H. Cocke, & Thomas J. Randolph were
appointed a Committee of Finance.
Th: J. Randolph was appointed a Committee to settle the
Proctor's & Bursar's accounts.
The Exercises of the public day intervening, the Board
adjourned till tommorrow morning.
Thursday July 5th. The Board met: Present as on yesterday.
The committee appointed by the resolution of the 19th
August 1837 to perform certain duties in the recess of the
Board of Visitors touching the medical branch of the Institution
made a report accompanied by the following resolutions
which were adopted
1. Resolved the accounts rendered by Doct: James L. Cabell
of Books, plates, surgical Instruments and anatomical preparations,
as also for the purchase of subjects for dissection,
having been compared with the vouchers to said accounts, &
all the items having been proven, be received as satisfactory
by the Board.
2. Resolved that the vouchers to the account of Dr. Cabell
of monies received & expended by him in subjects of dissection,
may, at his request be withdrawn from the University.
A communication in writing from a number of Students preferring
charges against Professor Blaetterman, and praying his
removal from office having been laid before the Board; & the
Board, as at present constituted, having no authority to proceed
in the investigation of the charges therefore.
3. Resolved that the said communication be laid upon the
Table in order that it may be laid before the Visitors at their
next meeting.
The Committee of Finance made a report accompanied by
the following resolution which was adopted.
4. Resolved that if the income of the University should
fall short of the disbursements during the year ending the
30th June 1839, the Bursar be authorised to anticipate the
future income by a temporary loan to the amount necessary to
meet the deficiency.
A Letter having been received from the Professors of
Medicine & of Anatomy & Surgery recommending the establishment
department of the University, and requesting authority to
use for such purposes, the brick building now occupied by the
Laborers in the service of the Institution, and a small appropriation
from the University funds in aid of the establishment.
5. Resolved that the Professors of the Medical School be
authorized to appropriate the Brick building now occupied by
the Laborers of the University to the purposes of an infirmary
to be connected with and under the direction of the said
school.
6. Resolved that the Proctor be instructed forthwith to
cause such repairs & such alterations to be made in the said
Brick house as the Professors of the Medical School may direct
and also to cause to be repair'd for the purpose of lodging
the laborers of the University the vacant house situated on
the grounds in the vicinity of the House now occupied by the
Janitor.
7. Resolved that the sum of $350 be appropriated from
the Funds of the University, to be applied, under the superintendence
& directions of the Professors of the Medical
School in defraying the expense of altering & repairing the
buildings, & in aid of the establishment aforesaid.
8. Resolved that the Professors of the medical school
be requested to submit to the Board of Visitors at it's next
meeting a detail'd report on the subject of a proper plan &
regulations for the proposed infirmary.
9. Resolved that each Student who may choose to attend
the Infirmary shall pay an annual fee of $5 to be applied
toward defraying the expenses of the establishment.
10. Resolved that the bodies of patients who may die
in the Infirmary shall be removed from the same, and interred
at the discretion of the friends or owners of said patients.
11. Resolved that Mr. Samuel Sublitte be authorized to
withdraw the ten prints, a part of the bequest of the late
Christian Bohn to the University, and mentioned in the Letter
of the Librarian to the Board.
12. Resolved that no student shall be allowed to board
without the precincts of the University at any house kept in
whole or in part for the purpose of boarding Students unless
the keeper of such shall prohibit the use of vinous & spirituous
liquors & all games of chance within such house or it's
tenements, and shall receive from such Students twenty dollars
more than are charged the Students at the Hotels of the University
for diet lodging and other offices and accommodations
of the house or tenement during the like term, & whenever the
Chairman of the Faculty shall have cause to believe that this
regulation is violated, or any regulation which the Faculty
may deem necessary to impose for the government of the Students
boarding at such house, it shall be his duty forthwith
to revoke such license if satisfactory assurance of a due
observance of such regulations for the future be not given.
13. Resolved that Gessner Harrison M. D. be appointed
14. Resolved that James L. Cabell M. D. be appointed
Professor of Anatomy & Surgery in this Institution.
15. Resolved that the proposition of Willis H. Woodley,
Proctor, contain'd in his communication to the Board dated
July 4th 1838 be acceded to by the Board on the terms & conditions
therein contain'd and that the Horses & wagon now the
property of the University be sold by the Proctor.
16. Resolved that it shall be the duty of each Professor
whenever he shall absent himself from the University during the
session for a longer period at one time than one week to report
the period of such absence in writing to the Proctor previous
to his draft on him for his quarter's Salary; and it shall be
the duty of the Proctor to deduct from the salary of such professor
for the time of such absence- That is, that if a professor
be absent from the University for one month, one tenth of
the aggregate of his fees & salary for the year shall be deducted
& in like rate for a greater or less time, unless such
absence shall have been previously assented to by the board of
Visitors, and it shall be the duty of the Proctor to require
this report previous to each quarterly payment; and it shall be
also the duty of the Proctor to report to the board the periods
of such absences and the sums deducted therefor in order that
the money may be disposed of as to them shall seem fit.
17. The Chairman of the University for the time being,
shall be, and is herby empowered to give license to the Students
and authorised by the first section of the Act of the
General Assembly regulating & restraining the terms on which
credit shall be allowed to Students passed on the 10th day of
March 1838.
It is enjoined upon the Chairman to exercise the power
thus vested in him with caution & sound discretion; and in
general to confine it's exercise to cases in which it shall
appear that the credit desired by the Student is for necessaries,
having regard not only to the thing but it's cost;- tho' where
the parent or guardian of any Student shall request the Chairman
in writing to allow his son or ward more extensive credits,
the Chairman may in pursuance of such request, authorise such
reasonable credits, as, under the circumstances of the case,
& in reference to the laws of the Institution may seem reasonable
& proper.
To prevent evasions of the act aforesaid, the Faculty shall
have power to refuse admission to any person applying therefor,
who shall, before matriculation, have deposited any part of the
funds under his control, and intended to defray his expenses
whilst at the University with any other person than the Patron,
or who shall have contracted any debt or debts with Merchants
or others in fraud of the said act; and may enquire of every
applicant for admission whether he has made such deposit or
contracted such debt, & refuse him leave to matriculate unless
he shall satisfactorily answer such enquiries. And if, after
before matriculation he derosite funds with any other person
than the Patron, or contracted any debt in fraud of the Act of
Assembly, or if any Student shall fail to deposit the funds
received by him after matriculation, with the Patron as required
by the enactments, he shall be suspended for not less than one
month.
If a Student be summoned to give evidence before a justice
of the peace or a grand Jury in relation to an offence against
the act aforesaid and shall in any manner evade such summons,
he may be proceeded against and punished by the Faculty, as
for an evasion of the process of the courts as provided by
section 24 3d Ch: printed Enactments. But no confession or
statement made by a Student in the course of his legal examination
as a witness, shall be taken as evidence against him in
any Faculty action for violation of the laws of the University.
A Student contracting any debt forbiden by the provisions
of the Act aforesaid, shall be subject to any of the major or
minor punishments, and if, in contracting such debt he fraudulently
conceal the fact that he is a Student of the University,
or practice any other fraud upon the person with whom the debt
is contracted, he shall be dismissed or expelled at the discretion
of the Faculty.
It shall be the special duty of the Proctor of the University
to use all means in his power to detect offenders
against the said act.
Whenever he shall have reason to believe that an offence
has been committed against the law, he shall promptly give information
thereof together with the names of the Witnesses who
may probably give evidence of the offence to a justice of the
peace: and when necessary to the prosecution of offences against
the Law, he shall appear before the Grand Jury having cognizance
thereof, to testify in relation thereto, or to communicate the
names of Witnesses who may probably testify. He shall in behalf
of the University, strictly enforce in all cases, the
penalties of the Act, and as far as possible, cause it's provisions
to be fully carried into effect. And he shall make a
special written report to the Chairman, at the end of every
month, of the violations of the said law which have come to
his knowledge, and of what he has done in relation to the same.
Resolved that the Secretary communicate to each member of
the board of Visitors a copy of a resolution entered on the
minutes of the proceedings of the Board at their meeting Wednesday
July 8th 1835, which resolution has respect to an application
of the Professors of the University for permission to
build a Chapel on the grounds of the University, informing
the members of the Board at the same time, that it is desirable
that this subject should be acted on at their next meeting.
18. Resolved that Alexander Garrett be allowed one half
of one per cent upon the sum of $38, 204.31 the sum received
by him from the Students and paid over to Willis H. Woodley,
the regular Patron, on his arrival at the University & that
commission on said amount.
19. Resolved that the Books bequeathed to the University
of Virginia by the will of Mr. Madison; and the Books and
prints also given to the University by the late Christian Bohn,
be put into separate presses & marked and labelled with the
names of their respective donors. And that the said presses
be forthwith prepared & arranged under the joint direction of
the Chairman & Librarian.
20. Resolved that in all cases of future donations of
Books the name of the Donor with the date of the act, be reported
to the Board of Visitors & where the donation is not of
sufficient magnitude to require a separate Press with an external
label as provided in the cases in the preceding resolution,
then & in that case it shall be the duty of the Librarian,
to record in a fair handwriting the date of the gift & the
name of the Donor in a blank leaf of each volume so presented
to the University, & where this has been omitted hitherto, that
it be now done as far as may be found practicable.
21. Resolved that the framed prints given to the University
by the late Christian Bohn be hung up in the library or other
public rooms of the Institution under the direction of a Committee
to be appointed by the Faculty, & that the prints without
frames be secured in port folios & deposited in some appropriate
place marked & labelled as directed for the Books of the same
donor.
22. Resolved that the application of Professor Rogers
for permission to be absent during the month of October on
the duties connected with the geological survey of the State,
be granted.
23. So much of the enactment passed on Saturday August
19th. 1837 as forbids the payment of a draft drawn by any Student
in favor of any merchant or dealer retailing vinous,
spirituous or fermented liquors shall be & the same is hereby
repealed.
A communication of Professor Emmett on the subject of
repairs done to Pavilion No.1 was ordered to be laid on the
Table.
24. Resolved that the Proctor cause to be repaired the
roof of the Platform in the rear of the Pavilion now in the
occupancy of professor Bonnycastle.
25. Resolved that the Shop in the rear of his pavilion,
the press for models & Black board in the lecture room referred
to in his communication of this date be constructed if in the
opinion of the Executive Committee the funds of the University
will justify the Expenditure.
26. Resolved that the Professors shall not allow other
persons than their own families or resident Students to occupy
the dormitories adjoining their pavilions.
The Board then adjourned sine die.
| Board of Visitors minutes July 1, 1838 | |