 | Board of Visitors minutes November 21, 1919 |  |
November 21, 1919.
A special meeting of the Rector and Visitors was held
on the above date at 10 o'clock A. M. in the office of the
President. There were present R. Tate Irvine, Rector, and
Visitors Harris Hart, Goodrich Hatton, Geo. R. B. Michis,
The minutes of the meeting of October 14th, copies of
which had been sent to each member of the Board and found
correct, were approved.
The Rector presented the following report:
The special committee appointed at the meeting
of the Rector and Visitors October 14, 1919, to consider
the question of increase of salaries of the
professors, associate professors, adjunct professors and
administrative officers met on this date at 8 o'clock
P.M. in the office of the President. There were present
the President, and Messrs. Irvine, Hart, Walker and
Michie. Visitors Robertson and Hatton were present by
invitation of the committee.
The following motion made at the meeting of the
Board on October 14th by Mr. Michie, and referred
to this special committee, was discussed, and it was
unanimously resolved that the following be recommended
to the Board for its adoption:
RESOLVED, That the salaries of all members of the
Faculty of the rank of professor, associate professor and
adjunct professor who have been with the University for
three years or more; and the salaries of administrative
officers who have been with the University three years
or more shall be increased 25% as of September 15th, 1919.
RESOLVED, That a similar increase of 25% shall be made in
the salary of each member of the faculty and administrative
officer, who has been with the University for less
than three years, when he has been with the University for
three years.
President Alderman presented the following petition from
members of the faculty praying for an immediate increase of
25% in salaries:
Dr. Edwin Anderson Alderman,
President of the University of Virginia.
The professors of the University of Virginia, in
special conference assembled, desire to call your attention
to the following facts, too well known to require
argument:
1. The cost of the necessaries of life in this community
has increased 100 per cent in the past three years;
2. As a consequence the great majority of the faculty,
in spite of all economies, are facing financial distress,
if not disaster, and are in urgent need of
immediate relief;
3. This position of economic inferiority to other professions
of like training and standing and the consequent
financial anxieties, result inevitably in lowered efficiency
of teaching and in decreased influence with the
student-body and the public;
4. These conditions will make it impossible to attract
to the University the type of teacher, which has
given it its prestige in the past.
The members of the faculty have been face to face
with these hardships for two years past. They have borne
them without complaint. The conditions have now become
intolerable. We have learned with interest and deep
appreciation of a resolution introduced at a recent
meeting of the Rector and Visitors, looking to a partial
and temporary relief of the financial distress of the
faculty by means of a 25 per cent increase of salaries,
effective from the opening of the current session. We
also rejoice to hear that the University has in hand a
present surplus sufficient to care for this proposed
partial relief during the session of 1919-1920, and may
reasonably look forward to such increase of income in the
future as will afford permanent and more adequate relief.
We therefore respectfully address to you the following
resolutions:
RESOLVED by the professors of the University of Virginia,
in special conference assembled, That the President of
the University be and is hereby requested.
1. To present this communication to the special committee
of the Rector and Visitors which will consider this
subject, and to bring to bear the great influence of
his position and intimate knowledge of the needs of
this faculty and institution in advocacy of the immediate
adoption of the 25 per cent increase of salaries as a
measure of partial relief for the present session;
2. To labor to make it the fixed policy of the University
to devote all funds now and hereafter to become available
to the payment of adequate salaries to the teaching
staff, before any further enlargement or expansion of the
institution is undertaken in any direction whatever,
not demanded by the necessities of efficient instruction
in the existing schools or by the increasing numbers
of students.
And be it further RESOLVED, That we make these requests
the more confidently because the professors fully recognize
and genuinely appreciate the cordial relation
and sympathetic understanding which the President of
the University of Virginia has ever manifested toward
them.
The President read to the Board his reply to the members
of the faculty, which was as follows:
I beg to acknowledge the receipt of a preamble and
resolutions presented to me on November 3rd and again
signed on November 5th by a committee representing a conference
of the gentlemen of the faculties of the University.
I need hardly say that I am in enthusiastic accord
with the general purport of these resolutions both as regards
the substantial increase of salaries and the
policy of not attempting further new expansion in the
University until a just and adequate salary arrangement
for the present staff is attained. The purpose to bring
about this increase is the most steadfast purpose in my
mind, and has been all along for twelve years as I have
seen the staff increase from twenty-eight to seventy-eight
by process of promotion rather than succession,
and particularly since last April when with then no certainty
of surplus funds I recommended and the Board added some
therefore, both as your colleague and as a member of a
committee appointed by the Board for the purpose, give to
these resolutions my most earnest and sympathetic consideration,
and I shall take pains to see that the committee
of the Board and the Board itself see and consider
them. I confess to some disquiet and some unhappiness
in the matter. Naturally, I would desire not only to
support but to lead in a movement to grant a petition
containing so much of justice and signed by so many
thoughtful and unselfish men. I am determined whether
the Legislature grants the request contained in the
budget or any part of it or none of it, to recommend with
insistence that a new salary basis of 25% increase be
entered upon here this year effective for the current
session, and it is my judgment that the Rector and Visitors
also hold this purpose quite definitely, though,
of course, I have no authority to forecast their action.
With me the necessity for such action is a matter of
supreme educational policy.
Whether it shall take place in the manner and at the
time set forth in the resolutions, that is to say, immediately
and effective from the opening of the current
session and in anticipation of any consideration by
the Governor or Legislature, I respectfully submit
is a question of practical judgment for the Rector
and Visitors with the President acting in advisory
capacity. Though this is not the time or place for canvassing
or discussing this matter, the opportunity of seeing
all of you is so rare that I take this opportunity to say
that so far as I am concerned, this judgment will be formed,
after patient and sympathetic reflection rounded
on an experience of thirty years with legislative bodies,
as to whether the immediate action asked for will endanger
or promote or merely leave unaffected the legislative
request herein presented asking definite increased appropriation
for reasonable salaries for the teaching staff.
If the immediate action requested in advance of legislative
consideration or action shall seem to me to
threaten defeat to the legislative request for $47,000
for this very purpose, I shall consider it my duty, with
great regret, to record my judgment against it, though,
as I have hitherto said, if defeat should come to the
budget request for any cause, I should insist nevertheless
that the action be subsequently taken by the Pector
and Visitors.
If the immediate action requested shall seem to me
to promote or simply to leave unaffected the legislative
situation, I shall with great pleasure record my judgment
in favor of it. I have a fancy my colleagues would not
wish me to act otherwise than in the manner indicated.
I shall be very glad to be shown that the immediate
action requested will not result in any hindrance or
embarrassment to the vital interests of the University
or those responsible for those interests, the chiefest
of which I think to be the establishment and permanent maintenance
of an increased and juster salary scale for its
professors, and I invite conference and analysis of the
subject from any gentlemen or group of gentlemen to the
end that I may do my duty in the matter with a maximum
of wisdom and the whole problem be settled as justly and
speedily as possible.
The report of the special committee was then taken up,
discussed at length and disposed of in the following resolutions
which were unanimously adopted:
RESOLVED, That salaries of all members of the Faculty of the
rank of professor, associate professor and adjunct professor
who have been with the University for three years or more;
and the salaries of administrative officers who have been with
the University three years or more shall be increased 25% as of
September 15, 1919.
RESOLVED, That a similar increase of 25% shall be made in the
salary of each member of the faculty and administrative officer,
who has been with the University for less than three years, when
he has been with the University for three years.
RESOLVED, That the term "Administrative Officers" shall include
the President, the Deans, the Librarian, the Bursar, the Registrar
and the Superintendent of Grounds and Buildings.
RESOLVED, That the rental of University houses occupied by
professors receiving the above increase of salary shall be
$375. per year.
In connection with the above matter, the following
motion by Mr. Hatton was adopted:
RESOLVED, That the letters from J. K. M. Norton and John
Steward Bryan dated November 11 and 14, 1919 respectively,
and indicating their inability to be present at this meeting
and that they favor the adoption of the resolution of Mr.
Michie offered at the last meeting, to be acted on at this
meeting, providing for an increase in the salaries of the
faculty and administrative officers be placed on file.
Upon recommendation of the President, Professor Fiske
Kimball was nominated to the Governor for appointment to fill
a vacancy on the State Art Commission.
The sum of $192.50 was appropriated to the Jefferson
Literary Society to restore chairs lost or destroyed during
the occupancy of its room by S.A.T.C. classes.
The President advised the Board of a bequest in the will
of the late Richard B. Tunstall, of Norfolk, Virginia, as set
forth in the fourth clause of the will, as follows:
"FOURTH: I desire and direct that my sons Pobert and
Cuthbert shall set apart and invest the sum of Five
Thousand Dollars ($5000.00) in some good safe interest
bearing security or securities, and I give and bequeath
said securities unto the Rector and Visitors of the University
of Virginia in trust, to hold the same and annually
to invest the income derived therefrom in the purchase
of books for the `Isabel Mercein Tunstall Library of
Poetry' which I started during my life."
In connection with the above bequest, the following resolution
was adopted:
RESOLVED, That the Rector and Visitors of the University
acknowledge with gratitude and appreciation the gift of $5,000
contained in the will of Richard B. Tunstall, of Norfolk,
Virginia, for the Isabel Mercein Tunstall Library of Poetry.
The Rector and Visitors recall the former gift of Mr. Tunstall
and realize what a permanent contribution to the strength of
the library the whole handsome gift constitutes. They are
unanimous in expressing their thanks and appreciation, and desire
that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to Mr. Robert B. Tunstall and Mr. Cuthbert Tunstall with their respect and
esteem.
The Bursar reported the receipt of a letter from Kirkpatrick
and Howard, of Lynchburg, Virginia, stating that a
$10,000 policy upon the life of L. P. Stearnes in the
New York Life Insurance Company, which policy had been assigned
to Kirkpatrick and Howard, Trustees, along with $40,000 of other
life insurance at the time a $50,000 loan was made by the University
to Bentley K. Stearnes and L. P. Stearnes, had matured
and that it was the desire of Mr. L. P. Stearnes to draw
the cash dividend, leaving the face of the policy still in
force. The Bursar reported that a similar request had been
made and granted to Mr. Stearnes. The matter was disposed of
in the following resolution, and adopted:
RESOLVED, That the request of L. P. Stearnes through Kirkpatrick
and Howard, Trustees, for permission to receive from
the New York Life Insurance Company the cash dividend accrued
and due on Policy #992.932 in the New York Life Insurance
Company for $10,000 be granted.
A communication from the State Accountant addressed
to the Bursar under date of November 10, 1919 was submitted,
advising that an examination of the accounts of the University
for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1919 disclosed no irregularities,
and that the records correctly set up the revenue of
the University and the disbursements were found to be sustained
by proper vouchers.
The President read a letter which he had received from
Mrs. M. C. B. Munford, Chairman, with reference to having
the University admit women to its graduate and professional
schools. After some discussion of the matter, Mr. Hatton moved,
and it was adopted, That the letter from Mrs. Munford be laid
on the table and the Secretary be directed to have a copy of
said letter mailed to each member of the Board, and that the
President be requested to call a meeting of the Board early
in January to consider the question of admitting women, and
the supreme object of the meeting be stated in the notices when
the meeting is called.
On motion the meeting then adjourned.
Secretary.
Rector.
| Board of Visitors minutes November 21, 1919 | |