Comment & Debate
David Minge, former Member of the U.S. House of Representatives. “The Case Against Academic Earmarking” – “Within the academic community, the earmarking process could become corrosive. At its logical extreme, faculty would be rewarded more for their role in politics than for developing sound research proposals. Assistant professors would be encouraged to put up lawn signs and distribute campaign literature to enhance their political influence with Members of Congress. Given the importance of fundraising, department heads, deans, and university presidents would be drawn into raising money for congressional races as a way of gaining the ultimate influence. We certainly do not want to go down that road.”