An Act to amend the charter of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf, change its name, define its corporate powers, and provide for its organization and administration, and for other purposes
PL 83-420 (H.R.6655), enacted 06/18/1954

68 
S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LiAW 420-JUNE 18, 1954 
265 
Public Law 420 
CHAPTER 324 
AN ACT 
To amend the charter of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf, change its name, 
define its corporate powers, and provide for its organization and administra-
tion, and for other purposes. 
June 18, 1954 
[H. R. 665S] 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That the Columbia 
Institution for the Deaf, created a body corporate by the Act of Con-
gress approved February 16, 1857, as amended, is hereby continued as 
a body corporate under the name of Gallaudet College, and hereafter 
by such name shall be known and have perpetual succession and shall 
have the powers and be subject to the limitations contained in this Act. 
SEC. 2. The purposes of Gallaudet College shall be to provide educa-
tion and training to deaf persons and otherwise to further the 
education of the deaf. 
SEC. 3. (a) Gallaudet College is hereby invested with all the prop-
erty and the rights of property, and shall have and be entitled to use 
all authority, privileges, and possessions and all legal rights which 
it has, or which it had or exercised under any former name, including 
the right to sue and be sued and to own, acquire, sell, mortgage, or 
otherwise dispose of property it may own now or hereafter acquire. 
Gallaudet College shall also be subject to all liabilities and obligations 
now outstanding against said corporation under any former name. 
(b) With the approval of the Secretary of Health, Education, and 
Welfare the Board of Directors of Gallaudet College may convey fee 
simple title by deed, convey by quitclaim deed, mortgage, or otherwise 
dispose of any or all property title to which is vested in the United 
States, as trustee, for the sole use of Gallaudet College, the Columbia 
Institution for the Deaf, or any predecessor corporation: Provided^ 
That the proceeds of any such disposition shall be considered a part of 
the capital structure of the corporation, and may be used solely for the 
acquisition of real estate for the use of the corporation, for the con-
struction, equipment, or improvement of buildings for such use, or for 
investment purposes, but if invested only the income from the invest-
ment may be used for current expenses of the corporation. 
SEC, 4. Gallaudet College is authorized to receive by gift, devise, 
bequest, purchase, or otherwise, property, both real and personal, for 
the use of said Gallaudet College, or for the use of any of its depart-
ments or other units as may be designated in the conveyance or will, 
and to hold, invest, use, or dispose of such property for such purpose 
SEC. 5. Gallaudet College shall be under the direction and control 
of a Board of Directors, composed of thirteen members selected as 
follows: (1) Three public members of whom: one shall be a United 
States Senator appointed by the President of the Senate; two shall be 
Representatives appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representa-
tives; (2) ten other members, all of whom shall be elected by the 
Board of Directors, who on the effective date of this Act shall include 
those persons serving as nonpublic members of the Board of Directors 
of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf immediately prior to such 
date, and of whom one shall be elected pursuant to regulations of the 
Board of Directors on nomination by the Gallaudet College Alumni 
Association for a term of three years. The members appointed from 
the Senate and House of Representatives shall be appointed for a 
term of two years at the beginning of each Congress, shall be eligible 
for reappointment, and shall serve until their successors are appointed. 
The Board of Directors shall have the power to fill any vacancy in the 
membership of the Board except for public members. Seven directors 
shall be a quorum to transact business. The said Board of Directors, 
Gallaudet 
lege, D. C. 
C o l -
l i Stat. 161. 
D. C. C o d e 
31 
ch. 10. 
Purposes. 
Property 
etc. 
rights, 
Gifts, etc. 
B o a r d 
rectors. 
of 
Di-
Members. 
Quorum. 
266 
PUBLIC LAW 420-JUNE 18, 1954 
[68 STAT 
Removal. 
by yote of a majority of its membership, shall have power to remove 
any member of their body (except the public members) who may 
refuse or neglect to discharge the duties of a director, or whose removal 
would, in the judgment of said majority, be to the interest and welfare 
of said corporation. 
Powers. 
gjjQ Q 'pjjg Board of Directors shall have the power to— 
(a) make such rules, regulations, and bylaws, not inconsistent 
wdth the Constitution and laws of the United States, as may be 
necessary for the good government of Gallaudet College, for the 
management of the property and funds of such corporation and 
for the admission, instruction, care, and discharge of students; 
(b) provide for the adoption of a corporate seal and for its use; 
(c) fix the date of holding their annual and other meetings; 
• '
^ ' ' 
(d) appoint a president, professors, instructors, and other 
necessary employees for Gallaudet College, delegate to them such 
duties as it may deem advisable, fix their compensation, and 
.-Him-y 
= ..» 
remove them when, in their judgment, the interest of Gallaudet 
College shall require it; 
(e) elect a chairman and other officers and prescribe their duties 
and terms of office, and appoint an executive committee to consist 
of five members, and vest the committee with such of its powers 
during periods between meetings of the Board as the Board deems 
necessary; 
(f) establish such departments and other units, including a 
department of higher learning for the deaf, a department of 
elementary education for the instruction of deaf children, a gradu-
ate department, and a research department, as the Board deems 
necessary to carry out the purpose of Gallaudet College; 
(g) confer such degrees and marks of honor as are conferred 
by colleges and universities generally, and issue such diplomas 
and certificates of graduation as, in its opinion, may be deemed 
advisable, and consistent with academic standards; 
(h) subject to the provisions of section 7, control expenditures 
of all moneys appropriated by Congress for the benefit of 
Gallaudet College; and 
(i) control the expenditure and investment of any moneys or 
.
>
;
«
» ».ti- . 
funds or property which Gallaudet College may have or may 
receive from sources other than appropriations by Congress. 
GAG, settlement 
SEC. 7. (a) All financial transactions and accounts of the corpora-
of accounts. 
^^^^ ^^ couuection with the expenditure of any moneys appropriated 
by any law of the United States for the benefit of Gallaudet College 
or for the construction of facilities for its use, shall be settled and 
adjusted in the General Accounting Office. 
Annual report. 
^^i) It shall be the duty of the Board of Directors of Gallaudet Col-
lege to have made annually a report to the Secretary of Health, Educa-
tion, and Welfare as soon as practicable after the first day of July of 
each year the condition of the corporation, embracing in said report 
the number of students of each description received and discharged 
during the preceding school year and the number remaining, also the 
branches and type of training and education taught and progress made 
therein, together with a statement showing the receipts of said cor-
poration and from what sources, and its expenditures and for what 
objects. 
Appropriation. 
gj,^, g There are hereby authorized to be appropriated such sums 
as the Congress may determine necessary for the administration, 
operation, maintenance, and improvement of Gallaudet College, 
including sums necessary for student aid and research, for the acquisi-
68 STAT.] 
PUBLIC LAW 4 2 0 - J U N E 18, 1954 
267 
tion of property, both real and personal, and for the construction 
of buildings and other facilities for the use of said corporation. 
SEC. 9. (a) The following statutes or parts of statutes are hereby 
Repeals, 
repealed: 
Sections 4859, 4860, 4861, 4862, 4863, 4865, 4866, 4868, and 4869 
of the Revised Statutes of the United States, and all amendments 
thereto (31 D. C. Code, 1951 edition, sees. 1001, 1003,1004,1005, 1006, 
1012, 1015, 1017, and 1019). 
Chapter 52, volume 13, Statutes at Large, page 45 (31 D. C. Code, 
1951 edition, sec. 1002). 
The proviso at the end of the first paragraph under the heading 
"Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb" in chapter 235, volume 
21, Statutes at Large, page 259, which appears at pages 275 and 276 
and which reads as follows: ''''Provided^ That when any indigent appli-
cant for admission to the institution, belonging to the District of 
Columbia, and being of teachable age, is found on examination by the 
president of the institution to be of feeble mind, and hence incapable 
of receiving instruction among children of sound mind, the Secre-
tary of the Interior may cause such person to be instructed in some in-
stitution for the education of feeble-minded children in Pennsylvania, 
or some other State, at a cost not greater for each pupil than is, or may 
be for the time being, paid by such State for similar instruction, and 
the sum necessary therefor is appropriated out of the sum above pro-
vided for current expenses of the institution."; together with the 
amendment thereto at the end of the last paragraph under the heading 
"Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb" in chapter 837, volume 
26, Statutes at Large, page 371, which appears at page 393 and which 
reads a^ follows: "and hereafter the estimates for this expense shall 
each year be submitted in the annual estimates for the expenses of the 
government of the District of Columbia" (31 D. C. Code, 1951 edition, 
sec. 1009). 
The second proviso at the end of the first paragraph under the 
heading "Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb" in chapter 
143, volume 22, Statutes at Large, page 603, which appears at pages 
625 and 626 and which reads as follows: ''''Provided further^ That 
hereafter the report of said institution shall contain an itemized state-
ment of all employees, the salaries or wages respectively, each of them, 
and also of all other expenses of said institution" (31 D. C. Code, 1951 
edition, sec. 1018). 
The last clause of the first proviso and all of the second proviso at 
the end of the first paragraph under the heading "Columbia Insti-
tution for the Deaf and Dumb" in chapter 837, volume 26, Statutes at 
Large, page 371, which appears at page 393 and which reads as 
follows: "and hereafter there shall not be admitted to said institution 
under section forty-eight hundred and sixty-five of the Revised 
Statutes, nor shall there be maintained after such admission, at any 
one time from any State or Territory exceeding three deaf-mutes 
while there are applications pending from deaf-mutes, citizens of 
States or Territories having less than three pupils in said institution: 
Provided further^ That hereafter there shall be included in the annual 
Book of Estimates a statement showing the number of persons 
employed each year in this institution and the compensation paid to 
each" (31 D. C. Code, 1951 edition, sees. 1013 and 1014). 
The proviso at the end of the first paragraph under the heading 
"Current expenses of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf and 
Dumb" in chapter 546, volume 30, Statutes at Large, page 597, which 
appears at page 624 and which reads as follows: ''''Provided^ That direc-
tors appointed under the provisions of section forty-eight hundred 
and sixty-three of the Revised Statutes of the United States shall lOQg.^* ^
°
*
*
® ^*" 
268 
PUBLIC LAW 421-JUNE 18, 1954 
[68 ST A T . 
31 use 71. 
remain in office until the appointment and acceptance of office of their 
successors; and the directors of the institution shall have control of 
the disbursement of all moneys appropriated by Congress for the 
benefit of said institution, accounts for which shall be settled and 
adjusted at the Treasury Department as required by the provisions of 
section two hundred and thirty-six of the Revised Statutes" (31 D. C. 
Code, 1951 Ed., sec. 1007). 
(b) All other laws and parts of laws, or of the charter heretofore 
granted, as amended, which are in conflict with this Act are hereby 
repealed. 
Approved June 18, 1954. 
Public Law 421 
CHAPTER 329 
June 18, 1954 
- ^ 
^^'^ 
[H. R. 8044] 
To extend the authorization for funds for the hospitalization of certain veterans 
in the Philippines. 
Philippine v e t-
erans. 
62 Stat. 1210. 
s o u s e 
a p p . 
1994. 
Hospital i z ation 
grants. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assemhled, That section 4 of 
Public Law 865, Eightieth Congress, is hereby amended to read as 
follows: 
"SEC. 4. Grants for expenses incident to hospitalization may be made 
for a period not to exceed ten years to reimburse the Republic of the 
Philippines for moneys expended for such hospitalization: Provided, 
That the total of such grants for any one calendar year shall not exceed 
the following amounts: For any year prior to 1955, $3,285,000; for 
1955, $3,000,000; for 1956, $2,500,000; for 1957, $2,000,000; for 1958, 
$1,500,000; and for 1959, $1,000,000." 
Approved June 18, 1954. 
Public Law 422 
CHAPTER 334 
June 21. 1954 
AN ACT 
[s»i794] 
To reimburse the South Dakota State Hospital for the Insane for the care of 
Indian patients. 
S. D a k . 
S t a t e 
H o s p i t a l for the 
Insane. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary 
of the Treasury is authorized and directed to pay, out of any money 
in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to the South Dakota 
State Hospital for the Insane, Yankton, South Dakota, the sum of 
$8,124.29, in full satisfaction of its claim against the United States for 
compensation for services furnished Indian patients from the Rose-
bud and Pine Ridge Indian Agencies: Provided, That no part of the 
amount appropriated in this Act in excess of 10 per centum thereof 
shall be paid or delivered to or received by any agent or attorney on 
account of services rendered in connection with this claim, and the 
same shall be unlawful, any contract to the contrary notwithstanding. 
Any person violating the provisions of this Act shall be deemed guilty 
of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in any 
sum not exceeding $1,000. 
Approved June 21, 1954.