xt7k9882k668 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7k9882k668/data/mets.xml Lexington, Kentucky University of Kentucky 1914058 minutes English University of Kentucky Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Minutes of the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees Minutes of the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees, 1914-05-dec8. text Minutes of the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees, 1914-05-dec8. 1914 2011 true xt7k9882k668 section xt7k9882k668 




1T1,JT=S OF 7T- BKAR OF TRUSTEES



      The Board of Trustees of the State University of Kentucky met in regular session

 on Tuesday, December B, 1914, at 12 O'clock, in the Trustees' Room in the Gymnasium

 Building.

     The meeting was called to order by Governor McCreary, and the new members

present were sworn in, as follows: John Wesley Woods, of Ashland; Philip Preston

Johnston, of Lexington; Dr. S. B. Marks, of Lexington; and George G. Brock, of London.





     On roll call the following were present:

Henry S. Barker, Dr. Patterson, Messrs. R. C. Stoll , Claude B. Terrell, C. B.

Nichols, R. W. Brown, Tibbis Carpenter, Richard N. Wathen, Dr. A. Gatliff and James

W. Turner.

     Absent: TJmes Breathitt, T. L. Edelen, W. H. Cox, Denny P. Smith, Johnson N.

Camden and Louis L. Walker,





     On motion by Mr. Stoll a recess was taken immediately, in order that Mer. Ly:le's

case might be taken up and disposed of without delay.





     At 1:30, before adjourning for lunch, the Governor appointed as a committee of

three to name the members of the Standing Committees for the ensuing year, the

following: President Barker, Messrs. Brown and Carpenter.






     At 2:30 the Board re-convened.

     The minutes of the June meeting were read by Judge Lafferty, Secy. and on motion

duly approved.



December 8, 1914




 




MIUTES OF 'R BCARD CF TRLSDm          ,



     The secretary then read the minutes of the Executive Committee. They were

approved as read.





     The minutes of the Board of Control of the Agricultural Experiment Station were

read by Dr. Kastle, and approved as read.





     Motion was made by Mr. R. W. Brown and adopted that the Board express its

appreciation of the splendid headway made in this department during the year.





     President Barker then read his annual report, which is as follows:


                                          Lexington, Ky., December 7, 1914.


To the Board of Trustees

  of State University,

    Lexington, Kentucky.


Gentlemen:

         I have the honor to submit herein the report which the law requires me, as

President of the University, to make to you at this time.

     In the beginning, I desire to congratulate the institution in that there have

been added to your Board six new members under the act of the General Assembly, autho-

rizing the election of Alumni as trustees. This act was passed on my earnest repre-

sentation that it would greatly strengthen the influence of your body in the State and

bring to your aid all the enthusiasm and love of the Alumni for their Alma Mater; that

this love and enthusiasm would be a tower of strength in building up the University

and making it useful to the people of Kentucky.



December 8, 1914




 




MIDNTES OF Ad. BOAPRD OF  -:UST=ES



      Starting out as we do under these pleasing auspices, I indulge the hope and desire

 to express the belief that your Board will proceed with perfect harmony and added en-

 thusiasm in the great work of building up in Kentucky a great university commensurate

 with the dignity of the State and the needs of its people.

      I cannot but recall as I begin this report that I entered upon my career as Presi-

 dent of the University five years ago, and I hope I do not transcend the bounds of

 modesty in saying that I have given to the institution all of the ability that I possess,

 and that, within my term, the roster roll of the University has doubled, and there has

 been added to the University's annual income one hundred thousand dollars.  The in-

 crease in the number of students this term over the number enrolled last term at the same

 date is ten per cent., which you will readily recognize is a very healthy increase. The

 students assembled on the Campus now are, in my opinion, an exceptionally fine body of

 Kentucky youth; but I am not relying on my own opinion as to this. A diligent inquiry

 of the professors reveals the fact that they coincide in my opinion of the students

 now here. In very large measure this is the result of the improvement going on in the

 organization of and the methods of teaching in the high schools of the State, from which

 we draw, in very large part, our student body; but that we actually get the best students

 from the graduates of the high school and that they are not sent by their professors to

 the various other universities throughout the country is largely due to the fact that

 we most assiduously cultivate the good will and esteem of the high school teachers through-

 out the State, and they now direct their graduates in our direction instead of sending

 them north of the Ohio river, as heretofore.

     This is especially true as to the two normal schools: both of these two great

institutions of learning we class as the warm friends and supporters of the University,

and their presidents and teachers do what they to advance our interests as we also do

theirs. This is a matter of great personal pride to me, as it evinces the fact that I

have been at least reasonably successful in cultivating the friendship of the public

school teachers of Kentucky.



December 8, 1914




 




M1NU-TIES OF THEI BOARD OF TRUS.TEDc 8



      During the sumner months we conducted a very successful Summer School, which was

 patronized largely by the teachers of the common schools of the State. There were

 in attandance (attendance) one hundred and sixty-six, all of whom seemed highly pleased

 with the opportunity afforded them to improve their scholarship in whatever branches

 they deemed themselves deficient. I hold the Summer School in high esteem in consid-

 ering how best the University can be useful to the State; Kentucky is lamentably de-

 ficient in properly equipped teachers for her common schools, and in proportion as

 efficiently prepared teachers are supplied, in that proportion will the educational

 interests of the State be advanced. It also lends itself to popularize the University

 with the teachers of the common schools who benefit by its teaching, and, in this way,

 aids the University in attracting the attention of students. Its benefits are there-

 fore reciprocal.

     Since your last meeting we have constructed a suitable building and are operating

a Comnons for the better boarding of the poorer students. Instead of forcing those who

live in the dormitories to walk long distances to boarding houses, we now provide on the

Campus a cheap, nutritious meal, at the very lowest price possible above actual cost.

This venture hes been operated only since October 1st of the present year, and, of

course, is in the experimental stage; but we have gone far enough to Justify the hope

and belief that it will be successful, and will greatly redound to the interests of the

pooper (poorer) students. I am also arranging for the operation of a truck garden on a

part of a farm, which the Dean of the Agricultural College has rented for a term of six

years, for purposes of which I shall speak further on. Upon this truck garden it is

proposed, by means of student labor, to raise everything in the shape of vegetables which

go upon the table. These will be furnished to our students at actual cost, and, in this

way, still further reduce the cost of living. In addition to this benefit, we will

afford many students the opportunity of supporting themselves by their labor while ob-

taining a university education. I am of opinion that the whole Agricultural Department

should be subsidiary to the interests of the students, so far as this is possible, with-

out militating against the primary idea of education. For example, we experiment in



December 8, 1914




 





IMUT-ES CF AdzE BO.BD OF TLJUSUS - Dcbr,9



truck gardening - let us, at the, same time, raise for our students fresh, wholesome

vegetables at cost; we operate a model and very expensive dairy - why not give the milk

to the students at cost instead of competing with the dairymen in the open market;

we experiment in the feeding of beef cattle and hogs and in the raising of poultry,

fruit, etc., - all of these things should go to the support of the students at actual

cost; in this way, we can very materially lower the cost of living to the students and

enable many a boy and girl to come to the University, who are now barred because of

the cost of living. It is not the tuition fees, but the cost of living, which is pro-

hibitive to so many of the poor young men and women of Kentucky in obtaining a univer-

sity education. In all these proposed measures I have the hearty cooperation of the

Dean of the Agricultural College; but while I outline them here in a very few words, we

shall have to proceed slowly and prudently with the operation, feeling our way gradual-

ly, so that we can be very sure of the safety of each step before we make it, but of the

ultimate success of our plans I have no doubt whatever.

     I have just spoken of the lease by Dr. IKastle of a new farm adjoining the one

owned by the University; the object of this lease is to introduce a practical course

in farming, for which no entrance requirements will be necessary, no course of study

in books, required, but in which the concrete principles of agriculture will be taught

to every farmer boy in Kentuc1qr, who chooses to attend.   The term will be of one year's

duration, and in that time it is believed the average young farm lad who has had no

opportunity to attend school can be given sufficient agricultural informtion to enable

him to be a successful farmer, or, at least, a very much better farmer than he would

have been without it.

     With this proposed new course I am in deep sympathy: as already indicated, I be-

lieve the University should be of use to the whole State, in so far as that is possible.

We do not depreciate learning by helping the very ignorant to better their condition.

These special course students will not come in contact with the regular university

students but will till the farm under competent instruction in an entirely practical



December 8, 1914




 




EO r O O T-  December  8, 1914



way. I know of no method by which to reach the average farm boy who has had no

opportunity for an elementary education, which promises greater benefits to the

agricultural interests of the State than this.

      It is impossible in the space which I can allot to it to set forth the multitude

 of ways in which the Agricultural Department is benefitting the State in a practical

 way. It carries on experiments in the feeding of cattle and other live stock and the

 prevention and cure of the many diseases to which they are subject. It is constantly

 experimenting in soil fertility and the best and cheapest methods of restoring depleted

 soils to their pristine fertility. It enforces the pure food and drug laws and all of

 the statutes regulating the purity and inspection of seeds, the analyses of fertilizers

 and their proper tagging. It studies the diseases of fruit trees and the elimination

 of the many pests which make horticulture unremunerative or impossible in Kentucky.

      In connection with the United States Government, our Agricultural Department is

 carrying on the most thorough extension work throughout the State. One of the most

 effective features of this work is the placing of a County Agent in a county for the

 purpose of solving all of the problems of the farmers of that county. Thus far, there

 have been located twenty-six County Agents throughout the State. Eight or ten additional

 counties have applied for agents, but the work is limited by the difficulty in finding

 competent men. We hope in a few years to have an agent in each of the counties of the

 Commonwealth.

     The department is carrying on seven small experiment farms in different sections

of the State; they are known as "experiment fields." In spite of the fact that during

the few years these field experiments have been carried on there have been two dis-

astrous drouths throughout the State, there has been demonstrated beyond the slightest

doubt the great value of scientific agriculture as applied to the poorest land. I shall

take two of these fields as an illustration of the principle involved.

     The field in Pulaski County has been operated for six years; in that time land that

would produce only seven bushels of corn and two and a half bushels of wheat per acre,

and would not grow clover at all, produces forty-three bushels of corn, eighteen



MI=-S OF       BOARD OF r-MT-EETS




 





1,IlNES OF T1IL BOARD OF TLUSTEES



bushels of wheat and more than a ton of clover per acre - at a cost of only two dol-

lars worth of phosphate per year.

     The experiment in Laurel County is even more striking; there, ninety-five dol-

lars, net, per acre, was obtained from an expenditure of thirty-five dollars per

acre in fertilizer. It only needs a glance at these figures to show the wonderful

possibilities of scientific agriculture in Kentucky. These field experiments are

carried on under the supervision of Prof. George Roberts.

     In concluding what I have to say on the Agricultural College, the Station has

made and sold to the farmers of Kentucky all the hog cholera serum they desired, or

which was necessary to prevent any great ravage by that disease; the members of the

Station have in the past year themselves immunized fifty-four thousand hogs in Ken-

tucky.

     On November 1, 1914, we completed the first year of operating our own Printihg

Plant, and the books show, after deducting all expenditures, including a sufficient

amount for the depreciation on machinery, type, etc., a net gain of nine hundred and

forty dollars and ninety-one cents ($940.91) for the year. In addition to this, the

institution has had more and better printing than ever before.

     At the beginning of this term, there was instituted in the College of Arts and

Science a School of Journalism, of which department AM. Enoch Grehan, late editor of

the Lexington Herald, was made head, This school already has some forty off (odd)

students and is progressing in a mnost satisfactory way. There is great enthusiasm

among the students, and Mr. C-rehan believes that in a few years he will build up a

great school. I do not think we can overestimate the value to the State of having

properly educated and highminded young journalists to take charge of the various news-

papers published in the State, either as owners or employees. This will greatly re-

dound to the benefit of the University, as these students will naturally remember with

gratitude their Alma Mater and do all in their power to mould public sentiment in its

favor.



December 8, 1914




 





IM7ThTES OF TI_ BOARD OF TiJUST=-S



      In our College of Civil Engineering there has been established a school for

 teaching the Making of Good Roads, and all in Kentucky who desire to learn this most

 valuable science are invited to attend free of cost. It is difficult to calculate now

 the real benefit that will accrue to the State when the necessity of good roads thor-

 oughly permeates the whole of society, and I know of no better way to build up a

 sentiment in favor of good roads than by offering a free course in the science to the

 people of Kentucky. It is the intention of Dean Rowe, of the Civil Engineering Col-

 lege, to give to the agricultural students a course in road making, and I hope and

 believe that great benefit will flow from this move.

      There has been placed in your hands a statement of the finances up to December

 1st, showing that after appropriating and distributing among the various departments

 money sufficient to run them for the school year ending in June, 1915, there is left

 a margin of three thousand six hundred and ninety-eight dollars and sixty-seven cents

 ($3,698.67), which we call on the statement "Surplus Unappropriated." I think this

 amount is a perfectly safe margin and that we will have no difficulty in living within

 our income as the law requires. I have not been able to furnish a monthly report of

 the finances, as required by the rule of this Board, because of two facts: first, Mr.

 Hywel Davies, the Auditor, during the summer, was appointed by President Woodrow Wilson

 commissioner to go to Colorado to assist in settling the coal mining strike.   This

 took up a great deal of his time. We would have been able to make a report, however,

 but for the fact that before Mr. Davies was through with his work in Colorado he was

 carried to the hospital and operated on twice - once for gall stones and the other for

 appendicitis. I need not say to you that these terrible operations left him in a most

 depleted physical state, and I doubt whether he has yet fully recovered his accustomed

 vitality. He is now in Colorado, undertaking to wind up the business for which he was

 appointed, and I am therefore deprived of his most valuable services. When he returns,

we shall be able monthly to give out the financial statement required by the rule of

this Board. However, I take pleasure in saying that our finances are in good shape and



December 8, 1914




 






             IIIUTES  OF Ti= BOARD OF TROUSTES      -     December 8, 1914


that we will have no difficulty in going through the year with a safe balance on

hand in the end.

     In conclusion, it is my sincere belief that this University is now in the highest

state of efficiency of its history, and I say this whether it be judged by the number

and quality of its students, the efficiency and ability of its teaching force or its

utility to the Commonwealth at large. I have no means of comparing the ability of

our students with those of other institutions except in so far as they have competed

in University functions. In the last five years our students have won three-fourths

of the oratorical and debating contests which have been held between this University

and other institutions throughout the country. The classes that we have sent to the

great national stock shows, which have competed with classes of from sixteen to eighteen

other State Universities, have always more than held their own, and several times have

been very near the top. In no case have they been placed as low as the middle position.

The class which went to Chicago this term was placed number six in a line of eighteen

universities. Below them, among others, were New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

I make the unqualified statement that there is no university in the United States which

is doing higher, better or more work than this University, on so little income. The

per capita cost of educating a student in the State University of Kentucky is lower

than in any other university in the world.

                                           Very respectfully submitted,

                                                Henry S. Barker
                                                  President


     Motion was made, seconded and carried, that the President's report be approved

as read, and that an expression by the Board be put forth in acknowledgement of his

excellent work.




 






September 9, 1914



IADUTES OF q1E BIARD OF TRUSTEES



    President Barker, Chairman of the special committee, reported as follows:

    The committee recommends that we accept the following proposed Executive Com-

mittee and Board of Control, and that the regular committees remain as they are.

     The Executive Committee to be composed of:

Messrs. C. B. Nichols, Chairman, C. B. Terrell, T. L. Edelen, R. C. Stoll, P. P.

Johnston, G. G. Brock and J. E. Brown.



     The Board of Control to be composed of:

Richard C, Stoll, Chairman, C. B. Nichols, Johnson N. Camden, the President of the

University, and the Director of the Station, Ex-officio.



     On motion the meeting adjourned.



Secretary, Board of Trustees.