Public-Financed Research Funds Soar in 1993

Congress earmarked more than three-quarters of a billion dollars this year for specific university research projects without any competitive review of their merits, a published report says.

The $763 million for the 1993 fiscal year represented a nearly 12% increase over the $684 million spent on such research projects the previous year, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported in its June 16 edition, which was to be released Monday.

The weekly newspaper, distributed primarily in the higher education community, said the funds included $76,000 for the University of Georgia to study urban pests, $1.5 million for a new center for Pacific Rim studies at the University of San Francisco and $42 million for a six-member consortium of schools to construct a building for work on the human dimensions of global change.

“The growth in earmarks flew in the face of lawmakers’ complaints about tight spending limits and their struggle to deal with the federal budget deficit,” the Chronicle said.

The newspaper said every state received at least one such project, but it could not determine the exact amount of money given to each because some projects were jointly sponsored by universities in more than one state.

However, the Chronicle said, assuming that the dollars were shared equally among the institutions involved, Pennsylvania schools received the most money at $73 million. Other states targeted for large amounts were Michigan, Maryland, Wisconsin and New York.

Joseph P. Martino, a senior research scientist at the University of Dayton, told the newspaper he was not surprised at the increase.

“Once the pork barrelers see they can get away with it, they will continue to try,” said Martino, author of “Science Funding: Politics and Porkbarrel,” which looks at the history of federal support for science. “This is merely a symptom of the overall corruption of the congressional appropriation process.”

But the Rev. Paul S. Tipton, president of the Assn. of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, said earmarking funds for special projects is “the classic American way.”

“The congressman goes to Congress to help his district out,” Tipton told the Chronicle. “The people inside the Beltway like to criticize. But frankly, that is why these guys and ladies are elected--to help a local university.

“This is what they do,” he said. “I am personally quite supportive of it.”

The Capital Beltway is the freeway that rings Washington and its closest suburbs.