David Felmley

One of Felmley's main concerns, as well as his main point of conflict with the University of Illinois, was the position and existence of normal schools in Illinois. They suffered from persistent underfunding and were at risk of being relegated due to other state universities and private colleges offering teaching degrees.[6] Felmley argued that the teachers colleges and normal schools, which often recruited and educated students from less privileged backgrounds, were the best institutions for training secondary school teachers.[7] Felmley led the charge to turn normal schools in Illinois into four year baccalaureate institutions.[5]

Felmley’s political affiliation and influence defined his time at ISNU. He was the first Democrat to hold the office of president at the university and supported the right of the faculty to hold and express their individual political beliefs.[8] It was also suspected by former president John W. Cook that Felmley’s vocal support of William Jennings Bryan in 1896 led to the delay in his presidency after Cook’s resignation.[8]

His political beliefs also influenced his hiring of faculty. In 1927, Felmley hired John A. Kinneman to join the university faculty despite the controversy that surrounded Kinneman’s outspoken support of the West Chester State Normal School’s Liberal Club and his defense of their meetings that led to him being fired.[9]

In 1907, ISNU was converted into a four-year baccalaureate institution, issuing bachelors of education degrees to its graduates.[10] The university also began to offer more specialized curriculums for teachers in agriculture, manual arts, domestic science, and commerce, along with adding new programs to home economics and industrial arts.[11] New buildings were also constructed on the campus, known today as Edwards Hall, Fell Hall, McCormick Hall, and Moulton Hall.[12]

Felmley supported the adoption of the metric system, reform of the university calendar, and the use of simplified spelling in all university publications.[13]

Felmley oversaw the beginnings of a more diverse faculty, hiring several Latino instructors to teach Spanish and potentially the first Jewish faculty member as well.[14] He also fought for increasing the salaries of faculty at the university after World War I due to post-war inflation and the disparity in salary between ISNU and the University of Illinois.[15]

One of the main issues Felmley confronted was enrollment. The enrollment rate of the university was a consistent issue, especially after more normal schools opened in DeKalb, Macomb, and Charleston.[16] Enrollment was also strongly affected by World War I, which saw low numbers of men in the normal department and extracurricular activities replaced by civilian war service, such as volunteering with the Red Cross.[17]

After ISNU became a four-year institution, Felmley only intended four year programs to have men enrolled in them.[5] Felmley did not see the point of offering elementary school teachers more than two years of education at ISNU, as the vast majority of them were younger women who he believed would “not remain in the work longer than five years."[18]