If universities want taxpayers to continue to fund scientific research, then they should create new institutions that stay out of politics.
It pains me to say this, as both an economist and a graduate of Columbia, but: It may be time to break up not only Columbia but also America’s entire system of elite higher education.
America’s large private research universities, such as Columbia and Harvard, have long been crucial to its economic exceptionalism. The symbiotic relationship between universities and the federal government, which subsidizes tuition and funds research, has created growth and innovation that is the envy of the world. Now, instead of being a source of national pride, many elite universities have become a source of national division, with some Americans viewing them as decadent, hypocritical or even hostile to their values.
It was thus inevitable they’d become a target of President Donald Trump’s administration. First it capped NIH grant reimbursements for costs indirectly related to research (utilities, administration, facilities, and so on), and it is now cutting grants entirely at elite research universities such as Harvard. The administration is also threatening to revoke the tax-exempt status of its endowment and trying to prevent Harvard from enrolling foreign students, a critical source of funding and talent.
Continue reading the entire piece here at Bloomberg Opinion (paywall)
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Allison Schrager is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal.
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