UCCSN Board of Regents' Meeting Minutes
01-30-1909
Volume OD - Pages 98-102
Reno, Nevada
January 30, 1909
The Board of Regents met at their Office in the University on
Saturday, January 30, 1909, at 9 o'clock A.M. There were present
Regents Sunderland, Williams and Codd and President Stubbs. Ab-
sent Regent Henderson and Regent Sullivan.
The minutes of January 5, 1909 were read and approved.
President Stubbs then read his report as follows:
To the Honorable the Board of Regents
of the University of Nevada
Reno, Nevada
Gentlemen:
I have the honor to submit herewith my report for the month
ending January 30, 1909.
The first semester of this year closes today and the second
semester begin on Monday, February 1st. The first two days,
Monday and Tuesday, are given over to examinations and regis-
tration, and lectures and recitations begin on Wednesday,
February 3rd.
I have submitted three bills to the Legislature. They are num-
bered Assembly Bills 29, 30 and 31 and were presented by the
Washoe County Delegation. These are the bills mentioned in my
report calling for $35,000 for the building and equipment of a
Biological building, $25,000 for building and furnishing an
annex to Manzanita Hall, and $2,290 for the purchase of addi-
tional land on the east side of the Campus. The bill for the
President's House was dealt with in the following manner:
I met the Joint Committee of the House and the Senate on Ways
and Means on last Tuesday. I explained the conditions under
which the house was built and under which it was held. I said
further that I did not wish to present the bill unless I was
assured beforehand that the bill would pass, inasmuch as the
bill had failed of passage three times, although it had been
recommended by the Committee on Ways and Means. The Joint Com-
mittee said that when the bill came into their hands they would
report it favorably with the recommendation that it be passed.
I then gave the bill to Mr. Dodge in the Assembly with the re-
quest that he make a poll of the House, and made the same re-
quest of Senator Holmes with regard to the Senate. If it appears
from this poll that they will pass the bill, I have told Mr.
Dodge to submit the bill which I have left with him.
I recommend to the Regents the presentation of the following
bill, which is not given in my report for the reason that we
did not know that it was needed, asking for an appropriation of
$4,500 for putting in the heating pipes, water pipes, electric
and telephone wires, a five or six inch sewer, and lining the
ditch in the rear of the training quarters with a good concrete
wall on the west side and a good rubble masonry wall on the east
side.
The Nevada State Historical Society is requesting the Legislature
for an appropriation of $30,000 to build the central part of a
Library building for that Society. The entire cost of the Li-
brary building will be from $60,000 to $75,000. Miss Wier will
appear before the Regents at 11 o'clock to ask them if they are
willing to deed or lease a tract of the University Campus 175
feet on Ninth Street and 100 feet on Virginia Street to the
Historical Society.
I recommend that the Regents of the University go to Carson as
their time permits and let the Legislature know the need of our
bills and of our general appropriation. The expenses of the
trips of the Regents will be paid out of our appropriation. I
think it will be well to have Mr. Williams remain until after
the 12th of February and Mr. Codd also, if he can spare the time.
On the 12th of February, the University will observe Lincoln's
Birthday. I have invited the Assembly and the Senate, their
attaches, and the State Officers to attend and the Senate and
the Assembly have accepted the invitation by formal resolutions.
In the morning at 10:30 there will be brief addresses, the
principal one by Honorable George D. Pyne, President of the
Senate, and one other by the Honorable Sam P. Davis, Chairman
of the Publicity Committee. There will be music by the Cadet
Band and a song by the Girls' Glee Club. At 3 o'clock in the
afternoon, the Reverend Charles R. Brown of Oakland will de-
liver his famous lecture upon Lincoln followed by an address by
Honorable Clay Tallman. After luncheon at the Dining Hall,
there will be a few after-dinner speeches by the members of the
Legislature. In the evening at 8 o'clock there will be a Mili-
tary Ball in the Gymnasium to which the members of the Legis-
lature, Attaches, and State Officers are invited. I would like
very much to have the members of the Board of Regents present
on that day and therefore I have suggested that Mr. Williams
does not return home unless business calls him.
On the 8th of February, my uncle, Honorable David G. Gray of
Columbus, Ohio, arrives at his 80th birthday and his brothers
and sisters and their children are going to assemble there to
celebrate his birthday in the proper manner. He is the Presi-
dent of the Board of Trustees of the Ohio Wesleyan University
and has given freely of his time and of his wealth to that
Institution especially. It is insisted by the members of the
family that my wife and I be present. I could leave on Wed-
nesday, February 3rd, be present at the celebration on the 8th,
and return home by the morning of the 12th of February. Whether
I go at the present time depends upon the action of the Board
of Regents.
Lately there has been a good deal said, especially in 3 or 4
papers of the State, that the word had gone forth, from whom I
do not know, that the President of the University was to be de-
posed by the Board of Regents. One paper has gone so far as to
indicate the choice of the President's successor. I am going
to read to you the article from the Tonopah Sun and the very
scurrilous article from the Carson Appeal.
I beg to say to the Honorable Board of Regents and, through
them, to the Legislature and the people of this State, that I
stand upon my record, which cannot be equalled by any College
President of any Institution in the United States, and further
that every achievement in the way of gifts has been gained by
thoroughly straightforward and manly policy. The President
of this University has not sat around in anterooms seeking in-
terviews with wealthy people and begging them to give to the
University -- a matter which has become the reproach of many
College Presidents in the United States whose zeal for their
College and desire for improvements has outrun their discre-
tion. Two years from next June, I will have finished 25 years
as the President of the University of Nevada, and of Baldwin
University, Ohio. If, at the end of that time, the Regents
and the people of this State should desire a change, I will
be ready to further that change in the proper way and to resign
the President's Office, provided that the Legislature approves
the acceptance of the provisions of the Carnegie Foundation
for the Advancement of Teaching.
I have not said anything at all in the Press concerning these
3 or 4 articles that have been published and sent broadcast for
the reason that it seemed to me that respect for my Office, the
dignity of my position, would not allow me to answer these
articles which were a tissue of falsehoods from beginning to
end.
I herewith submit the payrolls for the State and for the Agri-
cultural and Mechanical College Funds. Also the claims on the
Agricultural and Mechanical College Fund, but have acted upon
none of the State claims and will not do so until after our
appropriation is made.
Since writing my report I have seen the Journal of January 30,
referring to Senator Mack's bill creating the Office of a Uni-
versity Auditor. I respectfully ask the Regents to ask the
Senate and Assembly to appoint a Committee of three members
from each House to investigate all of these and other questions
respecting the University, which, at present, seem to be engag-
ing the attention of some of the papers and of some of the
Legislators.
Mr. O. F. Heizer has presented to the Mackay School of Mines
a collection of the rocks occurring in the Nevada Hills Mines,
both surface and underground; and in addition a set of thin
slides for use with the microscope. This collection will be
of service to the Department of Geology in its petrographical
work.
I am,
Very respectfully your obedient
servant,
/s/ J. E. Stubbs
President
On motion of Regent Williams, seconded by Regent Codd, the
Regents recommended the appropriation by the Legislature of
$4,500 for the purpose of putting in a concrete stone wall in
the rear of the Training Quarters, heating pipes, electric light
and telephone wires, water and gas pipes and a sewer from the
Training Quarters to Ninth Street.
On motion of Regent Williams, seconded by Regent Codd, President
Stubbs was granted a leave of absence to attend a family reunion
at Columbus, Ohio, for two weeks from February 2, 1909.
On motion of Regent Codd, seconded by Regent Williams, the
following statement to the Press was prepared by the Regents,
adopted, and the Chairman of the Board requested to obtain per-
mission of the absent Regents to affix their names to the same:
An Open Letter from the Regents of the
University of Nevada
To the Public:
Having noticed in the Press throughout the State numerous
articles bearing on the changes supposedly anticipated by
the Board of Regents of the University of Nevada in regard
to the Presidency of the University, we take this occasion
to state officially that we hereby express our confidence
in President J. E. Stubbs and in the work that he is doing.
It is the desire of the Board of Regents, with the coopera-
tion of the Legislature, to carry out the improvements rec-
ommended by the Honorary Board of Visitors and outlined in
the Report of the Board of Regents to the Governor. In
considering the plans for the welfare of the University
during the administration of this Board of Regents, we are
glad to say that these are in accord with the recommendation
of the Governor, who says, "In recommending ample appropria-
tions I refer more particularly to maintaining a high faculty
standing in all Departments."
Respectfully submitted,
/s/ John Sunderland, Chairman
J. J. Sullivan
C. B. Henderson
Geo. H. Taylor A. A. Codd
Secretary Frank Williams
On motion of Regent Codd, seconded by Regent Sunderland, Regent
Williams was requested to be present with the Legislature in
the interest of all University appropriations.
On motion of Regent Codd, seconded by Regent Williams, the
following resolution was adopted:
RESOLVED, that it is the sense of the Board of Regents
that they deed to the State for the Nevada Historical
Society a strip of land midway between Center and Virginia
Streets fronting on Ninth, 175 feet long by 125 feet deep,
provided the Legislature passes an act appropriating money
sufficient to build in part or as a whole a fire-proof
building for the use of the Historial Society.
Claims were allowed from the several funds as follows:
Contingent Fund and Interest Account
January Payroll, Prof. & Instructors $2834.36
January Payroll, Students 324.40
A. A. Codd 48.20
Frank Williams 76.70
C. B. Henderson 88.90
J. E. Souchereau 7.95
Total $3380.51
Mackay School of Mines Instruction Fund
January Payroll, Prof. & Instructors $ 450.00
A & M College, Morrill Fund
January Payroll $2078.56
Union Lumber Company 2.00
Spencer Lens Company .80
Bausch & Lomb Optical Company 15.45
Eugene Dietzgen Company 9.14
Ward's Natural Science Establishment 17.74
Mc Graw Publishing Company 7.16
John Wiley & Sons 13.80
Reno Power, Light & Water Company 143.85
Nevada Hardware & Supply Company 107.55
The Kny Scheerer Company 4.18
Flaherty & Bates 5.00
Palace Dry Goods House 1.95
Reno Mill and Lumber Company 16.15
Union Lumber Company 5.30
Nevada Hardware & Supply Company 2.80
Rosenthal and Armanko 1.50
Reno Printing Company 8.75
Total $2446.18
No further business appearing, the Board adjourned to meet
March 13, at 9:00 A.M.
John Sunderland
Chairman
Geo. H. Taylor
Secretary