DAEL WOLFLE 



there was testimony to the enlightened attitude on the part of 

 the government in seeking to avoid this danger. A political 

 scientist among the participants pointed out that the United 

 States Government was the one major government that was 

 simultaneously increasing its support and decreasing its control 

 of research and education. 



The concern expressed over the small fraction of the total 

 research and development budget going into basic research, 

 the suggestions for improving grant procedures, and the worries 

 about restrictions on new fields imposed by the processes of 

 committee review were all addressed to details of practice rather 

 than to points of fundamental principle. If the practices are 

 improved, most participants did not seem to fear that large 

 government support would lead to control or domination. 



Full Costs of Sponsored Research 



The federal government as a source of research funds was 

 the target of the frequently repeated charge that many govern- 

 ment grants and contracts do not pay full costs. There was no 

 argument; representatives of the federal agencies that support 

 research and representatives of the universities that receive 

 the support all agreed on this point. The problem is serious be- 

 cause the total amount of money coming from federal grants 

 and contracts is large; in a few universities the total value of 

 grants and contracts is so large that the indirect or overhead 

 costs alone run to several million dollars a year. The result, as 

 Lee DuBridge vigorously described it, is that the universities 

 which do the most research are in the difficult and morally 

 dubious position of having to appeal to industry, to alumni, and 

 to other friends to secure unrestricted gifts with which to make 

 up the difference. What cannot be made up by gifts comes out 

 of faculty salaries. 



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