 | Board of Visitors minutes December 21, 1931 |  |
A special meeting of the Rector and Visitors was held on this date at the
residence of the Rector, Mr. Frederic W. Scott, in Richmond. There were present the
Rector, Mr. F. W. Scott, and Visitors Buchanan, McIntire, Hall, Rinehart, Walker,
Williams, Shackelford, Munford and Carson, and Acting President Newcomb.
Upon the recommendation of the Acting President, Robert D. Meade was elected
Acting Assistant Professor of History, for the session of 1932-33 at a salary of
$2,500, as a substitute for Professor Thomas Cary Johnson during his leave of absence
granted by the Board.
Upon the recommendation of the Acting President, the following motion increasing
tuition fees in certain departments was adopted.
RESOLVED, by the Rector and Visitors of the University of
Virginia, That the tuition fees be increased as follows, beginning with
the session of 1932-33.
| Increase per session |
|
| Virginians in the College | $ 20.00 |
| Non-Virginians in the College | 35.00 |
| Virginians in Engineering | 20.00 |
| Non-Virginians in Engineering | 35.00 |
| Virginians in Medicine | 55.00 |
| Non-Virginians in Medicine | 85.00 |
The following motion with respect to renewing leases for renting of University
property was adopted:
RESOLVED, by the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia,
That the Acting President be, and he is hereby authorized to
negotiate renewal of leases for the rental of the following rooms in
the Entrance Building, and that the Rector be authorized to execute
same when in proper shape, on behalf of this Board.
That the lease to Anderson Brothers Book Store, Inc., successor
to Geo. W. Olivier, expiring January 1, 1932, be renewed for a term
of two years from said date at an annual rental of $1,200, with the
privilege of renewing same for the further term of three years thence
next ensuing at a rental of $1,500 per annum.
That a new lease be negotiated with Mrs. W. V. Nance for the
rental of the Tea Room, for a term of four or five years from January
1, 1932, at an annual rental of $1,680.
The Rector discussed with the Board a proposition he had received from Harold F.
Jobe, of Crook, Colorado, to whom was sold the half-section of land bequeathed to the
University by Miss Este Coffinberry, stating that due to decline in prices of agricultural
products, and for other affiliated reasons, he had been unable to meet the installments
and interest payments on the said land and, unless the University was willing
to make a reduction on the original purchase price, he would be forced to abandon the
property. The matter was referred to the Rector with power to act.
The question of charges now ruling at the University for rooms and table board
for the students was discussed, and, on motion, the following offered by Mr. Williams,
was adopted.
RESOLVED, That the Rector appoint a committee from this
Board with the Acting President to investigate and report to this
Board the charges for board and lodging to the students at the
University, both in the University and in private boarding houses,
in relation to such charges at other institutions, with recommendations.
The Rector appointed Messrs. Williams, Shackelford and McIntire
to serve on said committee.
The report of the Commission on a Liberal Arts College for Women, the consideration
of which was the special order of business for this meeting, was brought up.
The report of the Commission was read at length, and a general discussion had
thereon. Senator Buchanan offered the following, being duly seconded, which was adopted
by a vote of eight to two (Mrs. Munford and Judge Carson voting in the negative), after
a substitute motion by Judge Carson, seconded by Mrs. Munford, had been defeated by a
vote of eight to two;
(At the request of Judge Carson, permission was given to have his motion
entered at length on the minutes, and it will be found spread following
the resolution adopted.)
A copy of the report of the Commission on a Liberal Arts College for
Women, appointed under Acts of the General Assembly of Virginia approved
respectively on February 28, 1928, and March 6, 1930, having been submitted
to the Rector and Board of Visitors recommending that the State Teachers
College at Fredericksburg be converted into a Liberal Arts College for
Women under the control of the Rector and Visitors of the University of
Virginia in accordance with the plan of conversion and of government set
out in said report, subject to the provision by the General Assembly of
Virginia of the capital outlay and current support fixed as a minimum
required for the biennium of 1932-34;
BE IT RESOLVED that the Rector and Board of Visitors, after due consideration
of said report, endorses and approves the provisions thereof
and expresses its readiness to comply with its terms and recommendations
so far as imposed on this Board, provided, however, and subject to the express
condition that the General Assembly of Virginia at its next session
shall provide by appropriation at least the minimum amount of money fixed
by the Commission for the necessary additional capital outlay and current
support of the Institution for the next biennium;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that in the event that the General Assembly
shall not deem it proper to make the provision of money aforesaid, it is
the hope of the Board of Visitors that the Commission may be continued, with
the powers conferred by, and under the terms and conditions of, the Acts
aforesaid, so far as applicable, in order that the Commission may, on behalf
of the State, inform itself of all developments as to this subject, which is
of vital interest to the State and peculiar interest to the University, and
make its further report to the General Assembly in 1934.
The following motion by Judge Carson and Mrs. Munford, referred to in the introduction
to this matter, which was defeated:
Statement of Judge Carson and Mrs. Munford, members of the Board of
Visitors of the University of Virginia, made with the consent of the Board
for the record, and in explanation of their dissenting vote on the resolution
adopted by the Board with reference to the Legislative Commission's
report on the proposals for the establishment by the State of a College of
Liberal Arts for Women.
We regret that we cannot join in the recommendations of the majority
of the Board.
We agree with the recommendations of the Chairman of the Legislative
Commission that no action should be taken, at this time, which might tend
to commit the State to a definite or final policy as to the foundation of
a College of Liberal Arts for Women, for the reasons set out in his statement,
filed with the report of the Commission.
Giving due weight and consideration to the report of the Legislative
Commission, and with due deference to the high standing, reputation and
ability of its membership, we might well hesitate before recording ourselves
as dissenting from the conclusions set out in its report.- had the Commission
been at liberty to examine the real question at issue, that is to
say, whether the College for Women should or should not be established at
or near the University.
For like reason of deference to the action taken by the General
Assembly at its last session, we might well hesitate to hold open, for
further discussion, the wisdom or the propriety of the establishment of a
college within a radius of thirty miles from the University:- Had the action
of the Legislature in this regard been based wholly upon a legislative inquiry
as to whether the college should or should not be established within
thirty miles of the University, unaffected by the sectional clamor of more
than a dozen towns and cities throughout the State, the vote of whose representatives
in the Legislature might well have been far different had the
issue been simply, whether the college should be established in Fredericksburg
or at, or near, the University.
But we do not believe that the real question has been fully and fairly
submitted to either the people or the Legislature of the State. and we do
not think that it comports with the dignity of the University, or with the
standing of the alumni and the men and women of the State who are aligned
on both sides of this highly controversial subject, or with the vital importance
of the issues involved, to permit the final decision to turn on the
outcome of skillful maneuvers for strategic position before the Legislature,
or upon any other basis than a full, free and fair adjudication by the General
Assembly of the real question involved, unhampered and unaffected by sectional
issues or by the strains and stresses of the prevailing economic depression.
Nothing has come to our attention which seems to justify or require a
change of the views expressed in the statement filed by us with the Board
therefore, set that statement forth again at length, because it sufficiently
discloses the ground upon which we again dissent from the opinion of
the majority of the Board.
"Statement of A. C. Carson, Member of the Board of Visitors of the
University of Virginia, made with the consent of the Board for the record
and in explanation of his dissenting vote on the resolution adopted by the
Board with reference to the proposals for the establishment by the State of
a College of Liberal Arts for Women.
"Since I do not concur with the majority of my fellow members on the
Board in the adoption of the pending resolution, dealing with proposals
looking to the establishment of a College of Liberal Arts for Women, it
appears to be incumbent upon me to set out, as briefly as may be, my own
views on the matter of such vital import to the welfare of both the University
and the State.
"I am convinced that a College of Liberal Arts for Women should be
established by the State as an integral part of the State University under
the direction and control of the Rector and Visitors, and the President and
Faculty of the University, to a like extent and under like conditions to
the direction and control now exercised by these officers of the University
over the Undergraduate College for Men.
"But whatever may be the merits of the arguments for or against the
introduction of the co-eduational system elsewhere, I am also convinced that
there are strong and compelling reasons peculiar to the University of Virginia,
based upon her traditions and history, and upon the intense and well-nigh
universal opposition of the great body of her alumni, to the introduction of
the system at their alma mater, at least between young men and young women
of undergraduate rank, which demand the establishment of the proposed College
of Liberal Arts for Women as a co-ordinate institution, separate and apart
from the College for Men.
"The College of Liberal Arts for Women in Virginia should therefore,
have a separate physical equipment, a separate Dean and, in part, at least
a separate Faculty (all of whom, however, should be members of the Faculty
of the University), by whom it should be managed and disciplined as a
separate entity. And to insure a proper degree of independence, both for
the College for Women and the University, it should not be located on or in
immediate vicinity of the present University grounds, though it should not
be so far distant as to deprive the College for Women of the cultural advantages
of an intimate and close association with the University, or to
prevent the convenient interchange of faculties, and the use, under suitable
regulations, of the library, the hoepital, and other resources and equipment
in the University.
"The requirements as to entrance, class work, courses of study, examinations,
and academic degrees should be maintained on a par with those established
in the College for Men, and the scholastic and intellectual standard
set in the College for Women should be such that its graduates will be
entitled to recognition on equal terms with the graduates from the College
for Men in the Postgraduate and professional courses at the University.
"The arguments which have been advanced in favor of the establishment
of the proposed College of Liberal Arts for Women at one of the State Normal
Schools, or at one of the Woman's Colleges now operating in the State, do not
appeal to me. They seem to rest largely, if not altogether, upon grounds of
supposed economics in the original outlay for grounds, buildings, and economics
in the original outlay for grounds, buildings, and physical equipment.
"But if it is proposed to give the young women of the State anything
like equal opportunities to those the State now furnishes to the young men in
the undergraduate department of the University of Virginia, the saving in
first cost by the establishment of a Women's College at any of these institutions
would be far more than counterbalanced, in the long run, by the increased
appropriations necessary to build up and maintain the college as
a separate institution, deprived of the many and manifest advantages and
benefits and continuing economies in operation, which would be secured by its
original establishment and maintenance as a co-ordinate college of the University.
"If the State is unwilling, at this time, to appropriate the amount
necessary to erect the buildings and to furnish suitable physical equipment
for a co-ordinate college such as that outlined above, I should be inclined
to urge postponement of the whole undertaking until such time as the increasing
resources of the State will be sufficient to justify the expenditure.
"I understand there are two or more Women's Colleges now in the State
doing excellent work in the field of higher education within the limits of
their restricted endowments and resources. The competition of a cheap
State-supported college for women, conducted on grounds and buildings not
originally designed for the purpose, under the direction of a cheap or
underpaid administrative staff and faculty, could hardly fail to prove detrimental
to the welfare of these institutions. And, until and unless the State
is prepared to establish a State College of Liberal Arts for Women, worthy
of the name, the field may well be left clear for the institutions now
operating without State aid.
"I do not believe that the aspirations of the women of Virginia will
ever be satisfied with anything less than a State-supported College for Women
of the first rank, comparable in standing and dignity with the State-supported
Undergraduate College for Men at the University. Soon or late, any makeshift
or compromise substitute will be cast aside and such makeshift or compromise
experiment with a separate State College for Women prove a failure. There
the University will then be confronted with an irresistible demand for
undergraduate co-education within its own walls.
"Insofar, therefore, as the opposition to the establishment of a coordinate
college as an integral part of the University of Virginia at or
near the University, is based on fears that it may prove to be the opening
wedge for the introduction of the undergraduate co-educational system at
the University, it seems to me that in thus taking counsel of their fears,
the proponents of what I have ventured to call makeshift or compromise
measures are courting the very danger they dread.
"Oxford, England (and the Women's Colleges within ten minutes walk of
the University), Harvard (Radcliffe); Columbia (Barnard) and other great
Universities have blazed the way and have shown us how, mutatis mutadis, the
State and the University of Virginia, can together respond to the just demands
of the women of the State for equal opportunities under the educational
system maintained by the State."
The meeting then adjourned.
Rector.
Secretary.
| Board of Visitors minutes December 21, 1931 | |