grant distribution

[S L Forsburg]

bmartin at utmem1.utmem.edu wrote

> Consider the argument that soft-money institutions need to put-up or
> shut-up. If the institution is not willing to support the research
> effort, should the government or other funding agencies cover the
> entire
> cost?

Indeed, but where does the money come from?  That's the question.
At a university with undergraduates, there is tuition.  At
a state university, there is state funding.  Even at a medical
school, there is  clinical income.   But (unlike Harvard)
a place like Salk has no endowment to speak of, no taxpayers, no
patients,  and no tuition.  Where is the money to pay salaries?

One might argue that at such a place, where the faculty
spends all their time on science and none on teaching, that
the taxpayer is getting their money's worth. What's the difference
with the NIH paying a university professor his 3months summer
salary for the fulltime work he does in the lab over the 
summer break from teaching, and paying a soft-money person 100%, 
since he spends all his time in the lab all year?

-- 
-susan
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S L Forsburg, PhD  forsburg at salk.edu
Molecular Biology and Virology Lab          
The Salk Institute, La Jolla CA 
http://flosun.salk.edu/~forsburg/lab.html
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