Members of the U.S. Congress brought home the bacon for universities and colleges in record-setting amounts during fiscal year 2003.
Overall pork spending -- money that is earmarked for a project and thereby exempt from the normal Congressional appropriations process -- on academic projects rose 10 percent over previous 2002 figures while additional unplanned, discretionary spending on defense-related university projects shot up 68 percent.
Congress appropriated more than $2 billion dollars in pork project spending for colleges and universities in the current fiscal year which ends next week, according to a recent study conducted by the Chronicle of Higher Education. More than $223 million was directed to projects related to homeland security.
Since 1996, the number of institutions receiving earmarked funds has risen from 128 to 716 in 2003. Over the same seven-year period, the number of earmarks awarded rose from 215 to 1,964.
However, bucking a trend of chasing federal pork dollars, the University benefits "very little" from federal pork spending, said John Savage, University politics professor and assistant vice president for research and federal relations.
Pork spending measures are attached to existing Congressional appropriations bills and do not require stringent review.
"All these [pork barrel] projects are of dubious scientific merit," Savage said. "It's all about political influence."
Projects should be able to withstand the scrutiny of peer review, a screening process in which proposals are evaluated by qualified members of the field and ensures the best projects receive funding, Savage said.
During the current fiscal year, the University received $200,000 in earmarked funds for research on defense data-fusion and situation awareness technology, according to the study.
More than $7.5 million in defense funds, which in total account for 31 percent of academic pork in 2003, were earmarked for state institutions. Main recipients were the College of William & Mary and Virginia Tech.
The University "overwhelmingly" receives its federal research funding through competitive, peer reviewed grants and was awarded $204.6 million during the fiscal year 2002-2003.
"The universities [in pursuing pork barrel money] are violating the peer-review standard," said Savage, commenting on the general practice in academia of keeping politics at a distance.
"The universities have opened themselves up to direct political influence" in haggling for federal monies, Savage said. "The University of Virginia views this as a corrupting process. Just because other schools do this doesn't make it right."
Anti-pork advocates agree that members of Congress are overstepping their bounds in awarding funding to pet projects irregardless of the project's merit.
"For whatever reason, the Department of Education or whoever awarded these grants thought these projects did not deserve funding but members of Congress are deciding they know more than these agencies," said Mark Carpenter, spokesperson for Citizens Against Government Waste.
Founded in 1984, the Washington-based taxpayer watchdog group declares itself to be non-partisan and states that its purpose is to eliminate government mismanagement and waste.
"I think with a $480 billion deficit we should get our priorities in line," Carpenter said.
Florida was the largest recipient of academic pork spending, receiving $130.6 million in earmarks. Appropriated $35.8 million, Virginia ranked 18th -- ahead of Massachusetts, Georgia and Maryland.
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