SEA GRANT COLLEGES gg 



self-sufficiency and too much isolation. I believe this generalization holds not 

 only for Oregon State but for most of the land- grant universities with which I 

 am familiar. 



The Pattern of Support 



In these days of large grants fromNSF, NIH, and Office of Naval Research, 

 it is easy to overlook the pattern of federal financing that has been in existence 

 for a much longer period of time in support of the agricultural experiment sta- 

 tions. To describe the advantages of this program, permit me to use the words 

 of President Eric Walker of Penn State University. ^ He said: 



"The land- grant institutions have a wide degree of freedom in the 

 use of these funds, since they are restricted only by the provisions 

 of the Hatch Act of 1955, which pulled together most of the previous 

 legislation relating to agricultural research. Programs supported 

 by these funds are initiated by plans outlined within the institution by 

 the directors of the experiment stations, and these directors are 

 solely responsible for the administration and guidance of the re- 

 search. The funds may be used for basic research, as in the case of 

 biological science, or for applied research. The directors may- -in 

 fact, are encouraged to- -pool their resources with other experiment 

 stations in order to attack regional problems, and the funds may be 

 used for research carried out in co-operation with support from 

 'other appropriate agencies and individuals.' Ihese 'other' sources 

 include not only industrial organizations and private individuals but 

 also state governments. In fact, most of the federal funds must be 

 matched, on a dollar-to-dollar basis, by 'non-federal' funds. The 

 effect of this federal 'seed corn' is seen in the fact that the total 

 expenditures at the agricultural experiment stations were about $115 

 million in 1959, or more than three times the amount available 

 through federal funds alone. This flexibility makes it possible for 

 the experiment stations to accept industrial grants for applied re- 

 search without upsetting the balance of the over-all program." 



May I add that the above pattern of financing permits the development of a core 

 group of faculty people with continuous and dependable financing. Such dependa- 

 ble financing could be supplemented with a system of project grants to provide 

 incentive and permit rigorous evaluation of certain projects should this be de- 

 sired. Reviews are conducted of the administration of Hatch Act funds but 

 ideally these are reviews of programs primarily and projects secondarily. 



Such dependable support has also been used for the work in extension or 

 adult education. Time does not permit me to list all the advantages of inte- 

 grated research and extension programs. These advantages are numerous, how- 

 ever, and similar to the United States Marines, apply to both the land and the 

 sea. In my opinion, it would be a mistake to establish "sea-grant universities" 

 without explicit provision for adult education or extension as a part of the total 

 program. 



Does Regionalism Apply? 



There are nunnerous specific questions implicit in the rather large ques- 

 tion posed by regionalism. The size of the sea-grant program in the marine 



Walker, Eric Arthur, "Reorganization for Progress," Proceedings of the 

 American Association of Land - Grant Colleges and State Universities , Nov. 

 13-16, 1960, Washington, D. C. 



57 



