BASIC RESEARCH AND THE PRIVATE UNIVERSITY 



used to support the kinds of things that universities should not 

 be doing; it is still true that government funds have been the 

 backbone of the growth of basic research in the universities in 

 the postwar period. The chief trouble has been that govern- 

 ment funds for basic research have not been available in large 

 enough amounts, compared with the funds available for ap- 

 plied research or for testing and developing. It is this fact that 

 has forced many universities to take on development projects 

 in order to have something going on that could be called re- 

 search. A major problem of the future is to keep these funds 

 for basic research growing at an adequate rate. 



Threat of Control through Support 



Increasing government support of research raises the 

 question of whether or not the government will assume control 

 of the universities if it provides funds for their research. The 

 chief answer to this question is that it has not happened as yet. 

 The chief threat of control has come not from the government 

 agencies who administer the funds, but from the panels and 

 advisory committees (composed largely of professors!) who pass 

 upon projects and budgets before they are accepted. Many of 

 these groups have steadfastly opposed proper overhead pay- 

 ments on research contracts, have opposed including allowances 

 for the salaries of professors working on the projects, have op- 

 posed block or departmental grants, and have required of the 

 prospective research worker such elaborate and detailed pro- 

 posals and reports that a type of bureaucratic committee control 

 has grown up which suppresses daring ideas and takes adminis- 

 trative control out of the hands of the universities themselves. 



All of these things are done with the most pious protesta- 

 tions, of course. "It isn't good for the universities to receive 

 overhead reimbursement and thus become dependent on the 

 government," they say. Or, "It is not good for the professor to 



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