branch of the University of Utah. The Board was unanimous in its feelings that this should never happen. There was some public feeling that the Mormon Church might move to phase out Weber College and that it should become a public institution rather than being dissolved. Some suggested that it might become an institution owned by Ogden City. Dedicated professors worked with students both in and out of the classroom and had a profound effect on their lives. George Williams, a student during the 1927-1928 year and five decades later a member of Webers history faculty, wrote to Leland Monson his English professor, You have influenced me to better things more than anyone else in Weber. I cannot fully express my appreciation for these things but I hope that I might be able to model my character after yours. Williams was elected student body president for the 1928-1929 school year. Monson like his other Weber colleagues taught not only in the area of his academic preparation but also taught theology. Weber advertised its curriculum as fulfilling pre-professional and general courses of study. The advertisements specifically included engineering, pre-medical, pre-law, normal business, arts and science, and physical education. Returned Mormon missionaries on campus had organized themselves into a Missionary Club during 1924, but during the 1926-1927 year, Llewelyn McKay who had gone on to the University of Utah suggested that all returned missionaries on all college campuses organize themselves into one unified group called The Friars. The Weber missionaries agreed to the proposal and with Joseph Steed as president, the eighteen Weber Friars organized many activities including banquets and dances. One special dinner-dance was held at the Hotel Bigelow with special guests from the A.C. and B.Y.U Friars groups in attendance. It appears that the earlier Missionary Club at Weber had allowed both men and women to join and hold office but as the Friars were organized it became a fraternity and did not allow women to join. On October 21, 1926, the fourth annual Mt. Ogden hike was held and at the peak, student body president Elmer Neilson read President Tracys speech to the hikers. Webers football team continued its winning tradition by winning its fourth consecutive football title of the Junior College League; the team did not lose a game in 1926. The basketball team lost two games during the year while winning seven. As education and activities continued at Weber, the Mormon Church continued to evaluate its policies and finances in relationship to the educational institutions it was sponsoring. In February of 1928, Adam S. Bennion, church school superintendent, authored an eight page study involving a historical summary and current evaluation of church schools. By January of 1929, the question of church junior colleges was the focus of discussion by the Church Board of Education in which all of the members except David O. McKay favored turning over the church junior colleges to Utah and Idaho. The February 20, 1929 meeting of the Church Board included an involved discussion on the same subject. Charles Nibley, a counselor in the first presidency, stated that it was his understanding that the decision had been made by the First Presidency to close the Church colleges in favor of the seminaries. Church president Heber J. Grant noted that the agreed upon policy covered all of the schools and eventually B.Y.U. would have to be considered as the junior colleges were now being considered. Adam S. Bennion suggested that his recommendation was that all church schools would be eventually eliminated, including B.Y.U., in favor of seminaries and institutes. A motion was made to approve the action of the First Presidency in terms of the elimination of junior colleges, and the motion was carried with one dissenting vote from David O. McKay. McKay explained his vote by saying that he favored retaining the junior colleges at this time because, by their elimination, the Church would lose its hold on the training of its teachers. McKay suggested that it would be better to curtail the establishment of seminaries for a time and hold the colleges, until the virtue of seminaries and institutes as substitutes for schools is more clearly demonstrated. Finally, he suggested that the local people involved in the junior colleges should be consulted and won over to any proposed eliminations before definite decisions are made. Stephen L. Richards moved that an announcement be made that at least two junior colleges in Utah owned by the Church are to be closed by June 15, 1930 without mentioning any names of colleges. Joseph Fielding Smith seconded the motion which passed with only one dissenting vote cast by David O. McKay. It seemed certain that Weber would not remain a church school for long, and by the spring of 1928 the choices seemed to be: a. become an Ogden City Weber County College b. become a state-operated junior college c. become a branch campus of the University of Utah d. be eliminated In April of 1928, President George Thomas of the University of Utah met with President Aaron Tracy and suggested that Weber should become part of the University system. Tracy reported to the Weber Trustees that he did not feel that would be in Webers best interests for Weber College would forever be limited to a two-year institution. The Ogden Chamber of Commerce was favorable to linking Weber to the University of Utah and promoted the idea. The Weber faculty and students were uneasy with discussions concerning the transfer and or closing of Weber. An editorial in the February 22, 1929 issue of the Deseret News was aimed at moving the Utah Legislature to action on the junior college issue and saving the colleges by having them become part of the state system in some fashion. The editorial pointed out that church schools were being eliminated, specifically: the first of these institutions to be eliminated being the Brigham Young College at Logan. The elimination of other junior colleges was postponed in the expectation that the legislature would provide for the establishment of junior colleges under public auspices. But conditions will not admit of a longer postponement. At faculty meetings, Tracy reported the latest developments including bills proposed in the 1929 legislature. These bills included the Parratt Bill which would give junior colleges to the first and second class cities of Utah (Salt Lake City, Ogden, Logan, and Provo) and the Hollingsworth Bill