THEUniversity RecordofVyt tamber£tt£ of ChicagoFOUNDED BY JOHN D. ROCKEFELLERIPTJBJLilSHED MONTHLY BY AUTHORITYCONFIDENTIAL NUMBER, MAY-JUNE, 1904REPORT OF ACTIONS OF UNIVERSITY RULING BODIESFOR MAY AND JUNE, 1904.The Reports of Committees of the Faculties and Boards of theUniversity referred to in this schedule of the transactionsare on file, and open to inspection in theRecorder's Office.The University Senate:June 4, 1904. — Acceptance of the followingreport of the committee to which was referreda petition from the Graduate Council :Upon the petition of the graduate students, requestinga change in the present policy, permitting theses to beperfected after the time of final examination for a periodnot exceeding two years, your committee report that intheir judgment it would not be expedient to grant thepetition. In the main the arguments supporting thisrecommendation are as follows :1. It was regarded as a possible reduction of thestandards now maintained in keeping up the characterof the degree.2. In many Departments it was thought best to connect the examination of the candidate on the Doctor'sthesis with the other examinations, in the belief that theexamination on the thesis afforded the chief means ofdetermining whether the candidate had the quality necessary to obtain the degree.3. Special cases, requiring the student to prepare histhesis elsewhere than at the University, may properly beleft to the adjudication of the Senate upon the recommendation of the Department primarily concerned.J. Laurence Laughlin.F. B. Tarbell,Albion W. Small,Edward Capps, Committee. The University Council :May 7, 1904. — Voted :1. To amend the action of the UniversityCouncil presented in the Confidential Recordunder date of April 23, reading,to allow the Law School to grant degrees in absentia atits discretion,that it may read,to allow the Law School Faculty temporarily to recommend degrees in absentia, at its discretion.2. To amend University Regulations, Art.XI, sec. 5, par. 5, reading :Excuse from this requirement, namely, that the candidate shall be present at Convocation, is obtained only inthe case of the certificate, title, and Bachelor's Degree,and in that case by a special vote of the UniversityCouncil,that it may read,Excuse from this requirement is obtained only bythe special vote of the University Council.3. To amend University Regulations, Art. V,sec. 4, reading :The Quarterly Examinations are held in the Autumnand Winter Quarters on the Wednesday, Thursday, andFriday next succeeding the Convocation ; in the SpringQuarter, on the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of theweek preceding Convocation,that it may read,The Quarterly Examinations are held in the Autumn,Winter, and Spring Quarters on the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday next succeeding Convocation.4. To amend University Regulations, Art.VIII, sec. 16, par. 1, by inserting sifter the wordUNIVERSITY RECORD" institutions " the words "or other supervisionsatisfactory to the Department concerned" andin substituting for the word " Faculty " thewords "the Recorder/75. To make the following addition to University Regulations, Art. IX, sec. 10:No student shall report or transmit for publication inthe public press any statement of an instructor or lecturer, made in regular class-room exercises or divisionlectures, without the express authorization of the instructor.June 4, 1904. — Acceptance of the recommendations of the following report of theFaculty of the Junior Colleges upon a petitionof the Senior College Council referred to theFaculty of the Junior Colleges by the UniversityCouncil :Your committee, having considered the petition of theSenior College Council, makes the following report underthe three chief heads of the petition:1. The petitioners assert that the three weeks' reportsare often arbitrary and unjust, being based upon insufficient tests of the work of the students.From an examination of the records of class reportsfor the autumn 1903, and the winter 1904, the committee believes that the system of reports varies withintructors and Departments, rather than with the sizeof the class, as asserted in the petition.The committee believes that there is a degree ofjustice in the assertion of the petitioners, so far as thereport for the first three weeks is concerned, and would,therefore, recommend that the report at the end of thefirst three weeks be regarded as a warning and not as areason for disqualification.The committee further recommends that all instructors be urged to develop methods for testing students frequently, and that disqualification be based uponpositive rather than upon negative information. For ,example, mere absence from an unannounced quiz oughtnot to be made a basis for disqualification. In otherwords, if there is a doubt, students should be given thebenefit of it.2. The petitioners assert that warnings in all caseswould serve the purpose of stimulating students to improve their work. The committee seriously questions thisposition, and believes that any further modification thanthat recommended above is not justified by past experience or a priori reasoning.3. The petitioners assert that Chicago athletic teams are seriously handicapped in competing with other western universities where less rigorous systems are enforced.The committee finds that in the autumn of 1903, outof thirty-one men in the football squad three regular menand three substitutes were disqualified at the end of thefirst three weeks ; only one regular man and two substitutes at the end of the second three weeks ; that is, inthe contest with Michigan the eligibility rule affectedone regular man and two substitutes out of thirty-one.In the winter the Glee Club lost two men out oftwenty-four, the Mandolin Club one out of twenty-one,and the Girls' Glee Club one out of sixteen.The Track Team suffered more seriously at the end ofthe first three weeks. Out of twenty-four members, fourregular men and two substitutes were disqualified, and atthe end of six weeks, five regular men and two substitutes were withdrawn.George E. Vincent,Philip S. Allen,H. J. Davenport,Committee of the Faculty of the Junior Colleges.Adoption of the following recommendationregarding examinations :The Faculty of the Junior Colleges recommends to theUniversity Council that two examinations for admissionbe held annually, in June and September, and two additional examinations of less formal character for removalof conditions in January and April.Acceptance of the following report, originallypresented to the Board of Physical Culture andAthletics, and by that Board referred to theUniversity Council and to the Board ofTrustees :The committee appointed to consider the accompanying report concerning the drinking-water in the buildingsof the University, begs leave to report that the reportreferred to it is commended in the main. Dr. Lyon,however, especially wishes to withhold his approval ofany plan which does not involve the boiling of the water.R. D. Salisbury.Marion Talbot.Elias P. Lyon.RFPORT OF A COMMITTEE OF THE BOARD OF PHYSICAL CULTURE AND ATHLETICS APPOINTED TO INVESTIGATE THEUNIVERSITY SUPPLY OF DRINKING-WATER AND TOMAKE RECOMMENDATIONS.The findings of the committee are based upon (1) areport made to the Board of Physical Culture and Athletics by Ernest D. Burton ; (2) a bacteriological examination of water from coolers and filters representing allUNIVERSITY RECORD 3the University buildings made under the supervision ofDr. Jordan; (3) the examinations and inquiries of themembers of the committee.The committee begs to report :1. That the system of supplying drinking-water bymeans of coolers is not suitable or safe, and should becompletely replaced by some better system at the earliestpossible time.The reasons for condemning the system are as follows :a) The surroundings become sloppy.b) The supply is small at the best, and is quickly exhausted in warm weather.c) There is always danger of reinfection or contamination between the filter and the cooler. Bacteriological examinations show that this contamination maybe very great (see, for instance, examination of waterfrom Zoology, North Hall, Haskell, etc.).a) It is possible for the janitor to take water directlyfrom a tap in the building to supply the cooler, withoutmuch fear of detection. The committee has heard of atleast one case where this has been done.e) There is always danger of mixing the water fromthe ice-chamber with the drinking-water either by tippingthe tank, as is often done when the supply is low, or bydropping a large piece of ice into the ice-chamber so asto slop over its contents./) In the Halls water for table use is sometimesbrought from filters in open pails and left standing uncovered long enough to accumulate a light coating ofdust on the surface, and Knickerbocker ice is placeddirectly into this water. Contamination from the ice isthe chief danger here, but the development of air bacteria in the water is undesirable.2. This system, however, must continue to be usedmore or less for some time; we believe that it may beperfectly safe zvhen properly administered, just as it maybe much more dangerous than drinking raw water, ifcarelessly administered.The following rules should be stringently enforced, andinfraction by janitors or others in charge of the watercoolers should be severely punished:a) Source of water. — Water may be properly sterilized either by boiling or by filtering. Pasteur filtersmust be used (others are not known to be always reliable)and cared for as in 4b). To be sure of disinfection byheating, the water should be brought to the boiling-point.It would appear that it is unnecessary to go throughboth processes, though some consider that by goingthrough both any defect in one process would be controlled by the other. On the other hand, some hold that itis much safer to perfect one process and to rely on that;also, that boiled water acquires a bad taste if allowed to stand too long before using, inasmuch as, for some reason,the bacteria of the air multiply much more rapidly inwater that has been boiled. If we are to rely on oneprocess alone, it should undoubtedly be the filtering process. The only question is whether the water should firstbe boiled or not.b) Transfer of water. — The vessels used for carryingdrinking-water from the filter to the cooler must not beused for any other purpose. They must be rinsed outwith boiling water at least once a week. They must becovered, and provided with a spout that can be fitted intothe opening to the water-reservoir, so that the latter canbe filled without removing the ice-chamber. The committee finds that the removal of the latter, and setting iton dusty floors while the water-reservoir is being filled,is probably a source of various contaminations.c) The cooler.(1) The ice-compartment must be separate from thewater-reservoir.(2) The cooler must be taken down, and both ice-chamber and water-reservoir washed out with boilingwater at least once a week.3. The cooler system should be regarded only as amakeshift. As a permanent arrangement the committeewould recommend a circulating system of filtered waterin each building, involving at least the following parts :(a) filters of the best Pasteur type in continuous operation attached to the city water supply; (b) the waterflows from the filter into a sealed reservoir ; (c) afterleaving the reservoir the supply pipe enters a worm inan ice-chamber sufficient to cool the water to an agreeabletemperature; (d) from the reservoir it is delivered bypipes to drinking-fountains suitably disposed.This general plan is now in operation in the Gymnasium, Lexington and Ellis Halls, Walker Museum, andthe Women's Gymnasium. Before installing it in otherbuildings, the committee recommends a thorough inquiryinto all defects which have arisen in practice, with aview to improving on the details.4. Administration of preceding plan. — In the interestsof health of the University community, the committeestrongly urges —a) That the administration of this plan be not leftin the hands of the regular janitors of the buildings, butthat all the systems be put in charge of a special employee, whose duty it shall be to see that the filters arein order and properly cleaned and disinfected at statedtimes, and that the system is not otherwise out of order,and that there should be bacteriological observations atstated intervals. The experience of the School of Education will illustrate the necessity of such supervision :there it was found that the number of bacteria per cubic4 UNIVERSITY RECORDcentimeter had run up to over five thousand ; examination revealed that the essential part of the filter wasbroken, and the raw water simply poured through withoutany filtration. Such accidents will not often happen, butmere carelessness will utterly spoil the efficiency of thefilters.b) Care of Hltef\§. — Filters in continuous use shouldbe brushed clean every one to three days, according tothe volume of water passing through them, and should bebaked for disinfection at least once a week or once afortnight.5. The committee also considered a centralized system, involving a central filtering station for the entireUniversity, from which water could be piped to all buildings on the campus, cooled in each building by passingthe supply pipe in the form of a worm through an ice-chamber, and then piped to suitably disposed fountains.The full specifications of such a plan involve so muchdetail that it was not thoroughly considered. It is clearthat such a plan has certain advantages over the separatecirculating systems ; for instance, the number of filterswould be reduced, and, being in one central place, thesecould be attended to with sufficient care to insure absolute efficiency. As the filter is the essential feature ofthese systems, this is obviously a great advantage. Thecost of administration might be less than that of theseparate circulating systems. But its installation wouldcost very much more. The installation of separate systems in the various buildings might be regarded as astep toward the establishment of the centralized system,in which case the various separate plants, with the exception of their filters, would become parts of a singlesystem.An advantage of the series of separated circulatingsystems over the centralized system would appear to bethat chance infection would be strictly localized in theformer case, but distributed to every drinking-fountainin the latter.Submitted for the committee,Frank R. Lillie, Chairman.Charles P. Small.Joseph E. Raycroft. The Board of University Relations :May 21, 1904. — Approval of the recommendation of the Director that the following school*be admitted to co-operation :Marquette (Mich.) High School.Havana (111.) High School.Beardstown (111.) High School.El Paso (Texas) High School.East Des Moines (Iowa) High School.Calumet (Mich.) High School.Alton (111.) High School.Monmouth (111.) High School.Decatur k(Ill.) High School (Chemistry excepted).St. Katherine's Hall, Davenport, Iowa (Sciences excepted).West Saginaw, Mich. (Chemistry excepted).Macomb (111.) High School.Jackson (Mich.) High School.Washington (Iowa) High School.Charlestown (111.) High School (English excepted).Illinois Woman's College, Jacksonville (Latin exceptedfor the time).Menominee (Mich.) High School (Chemistry excepted) .Marion (Ind.) High School.Ishpeming, Mich. (History excepted).Jacksonville k(IH.) High School (Latin excepted).Starrett School for Girls, Chicago (Science excepted).The Board of Student Organizations :May 28, 1904. — Voted:1. That the editors of the Monthly and DailyMaroon be notified that at the first of July theUniversity Regulations regarding eligibility forpublic appearance will be strictly applied.2. That the attenton of the editor-in-chief ofthe Daily Maroon be called to the fact that thelarge amount of space given to advertisementsis so reducing the literary matter and news itemsas to work injustice to subscribers.