Universities Vulnerable To Federal Aid Cuts, Pusey Tells House Unit

President Pusey warned in Congressional testimony yesterday that universities which rely too heavily on federal aid would be in trouble if the government cut back its commitment to scientific research and development.

He told a House subcommittee investigating federal research programs that the proportion of federal money in Harvard's budget--now 30.3 per cent--was a safe percentage, but indicated that a number of universities have put themselves in a vulnerable position by accepting too many federal contracts.

"If Congress were to cut the whole thing off we could adjust a good deal better" than other institutions, Pusey explained last night.

Harvard currently ranks fifth among universities in total grants coming from the federal government, but a number of institutions, including Princeton, M.I.T., and the University of California, depend on Washington for more than 50 per cent of their total budget.

In his prepared testimony Pusey explained that Harvard, almost alone among universities getting federal aid, does not use government money to pay the salaries of faculty members with tenure. "We are confident this policy has been wise, since we could theoretically very quickly readjust our total program if government assistance to universities were to cease. We at Harvard cherish our independence--some might say obsessively!" the statement said.

Problems of Federal Aid

Though Pusey testified that the effect of federal aid "has in the main been good," he pointed out a mumber of problems it has raised for universities, and suggested some changes in present federal programs and outlook.

Most important, according to Pusey, is that the government should recognize that it has an interest in education as a whole. "We in the universities feel that the Congress has not yet really addressed itself to the importance and problems of institutions of higher education," he said.

Pusey called for the extension of federal aid to areas other than the physical sciences, and for the widening of present programs to include more support for teaching and for undergraduate education. He pointed out that grants under the present National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health programs cannot be used for undergraduate programs, and criticized the cuts made by the House last month in the NSF appropriations bill.

Make Grants More General

Another sugestion made by Pusey was that the government award five or ten-year grants for research projects, instead of some of the present short-term grants, and that it expand the program of "institutional" grants covering general areas, as a supplement to aid for specific projects.