It is never wise to lump something precious in with throwing it away, but it is an alarming prospect we now face.FailureMany university officials face campus Anti-Semitismthroughout last year and now that students are back on campus.
Political decision makers Viewer Administrators’ performance is unacceptable, and administrators who are accountable to voters less than impressed with campus elitism often have only blunt tools to address the problem. Types of administrative actions What we've seen.
One such blunt measure would be the potential reduction in federal funding for a wide range of campus activities and functions.
Congress, which is responsible for setting the budget as part of its role in the foreign and defense policy-making process, would be well-advised to cut funding for government laboratories in China and elsewhere, for example. Foreign Adversaries.
However, other programs, largely implemented at research universities, are economically very efficient in stimulating technological advances that result in cost reductions, new production processes, new and improved products, and stronger long-term economic growth. Because some of the results of research efforts cannot be patented for a variety of reasons, the private sector is not in a position to invest the significant resources required to pursue them. It would be economically efficient for the Federal Government to make such investments as an alternative, but the efficient amount of such funding is always a subjective judgment.
Unfortunately, the House of Commons Science, Space and Technology Committee, understandably Indignant Federal officials concerned about possible anti-Semitic violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act at universities that receive federal funding recently sent letters to several federal departments and agencies that administer such grants, pointing out that violations of Title VI could make universities ineligible to receive federal grants.
The cutoff of federal research funding to universities would pose serious challenges to the ongoing process of technological progress. Universities would have to maintain necessary laboratories and centers, and researchers would have to have sufficient confidence to invest in their human capital. Two examples illustrate this point: Long-term Basic Research at MITSuperconducting magnets have been demonstrated to be useful in generating the long-elusive goal of nuclear fusion power, something the fusion lobby has been arguing for decades is on the horizon, but the role of federal funding of such fundamental research is entirely justified in any sensible model of limited government, whatever the specific interests of the research lobby itself.
Idaho National LaboratoryBasic ResearchRegarding the next generation of sodium-cooled nuclear reactors, perhaps such technological advances, if achieved, would be competitive with natural gas-fired power generation. Perhaps not. But federal funding of the basic scientific advances necessary to prove theoretical concepts is an appropriate function of the federal government.
States would not have adequate incentives due to the obvious free-rider problem, except for industries that are large components of each state's economy. While determining the appropriate level and allocation of such federal funds is difficult, there is no obvious reason that the congressional negotiation process would produce an inefficient outcome in this situation, nor is there any obvious reason that such federal funds should be reduced. The only plausible argument is that interest groups on campuses would be created to oppose long-term progressive trends.
Such basic research would likely prove more productive if conducted by semi-independent agencies somewhat insulated from political pressure, rather than by a federal bureaucracy directly dependent on Congress for funding. In any event, it is not beyond the ability of congressional appropriations committees to use federal budget cuts to severely punish campus anti-Semitism without undermining the fundamental need to support basic research.
Benjamin Zuiker is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
