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PREPARED STATEMENT OF Don I. Phillips 

 Executive Director, GUIR Roundtable 

 National Academy of Sciences 

 Page 6 



research capacity in the 1960 's without adequately 



addressing the question of long term renewal and 



replacement. For their part, federal agencies blame 



universities for failing to develop the capital 



reserves necessary to renovate and replace buildings on 



a logical timetable. To some extent both are right, 



but the incentives are not there for either party to 



behave differently. As a result, funding decisions are 



made from a short term perspective, which places 



facilities low on the list of priorities after 



personnel, programs, and equipment. Furthermore, the 



decentralization of the research enterprise compounds 



the difficulty of formulating a long-term national 



strategy. There is no mechanism for brokering the 



extent or type of support each sector (states, 



universities, federal government, industry) should 



provide for long term capital investments. 



• Second, there will be ongoing needs for construction, 

 renovation, and repair of academic research facilities 

 resulting from new demands and opportunities, such as 

 rapid changes and advances in science and engineering 

 research, including new developments in 

 instrumentation; the impact of regulations and other 

 requirements on building standards; the high cost of 



