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PREPARED STATEMENT OF Don I. Phillips 

 Executive Director, GUIR Roundtable 

 National Academy of Sciences 

 Page 5 



While many argue that the federal share should be larger 



than the current level, no one expects that it should cover 



anywhere near the total costs. It is important to recall that 



even at the peak of direct federal support of academic research 



facilities in the late 1960 's, federal funds never accounted for 



more than 30 percent of science and engineering facility funding, 



and those funds included support for instructional as well as 



research buildings. 



The Basis for Action 



One can get into prolonged debates about how to interpret 

 the needs indicators and funding trends. To be sure, there is no 

 accepted method for determining what percentage of facilities 

 should be state-of-the-art, what extent of need for renovation is 

 unacceptable, what is an excessive amount of need for additional 

 space, or how much funding should be provided for construction 

 and renovation on an annual basis. 



The sense of the Roundtable discussions was that there are 

 compelling reasons to improve the financing of research 

 facilities regardless of the exact meanings of the needs and 

 funding indicators. 



• First, there is a back log of facility renewal needs 

 resulting from inadequacies in current practice. 

 Universities blame the federal government for expanding 



