Stimulus Squandered at WashU

We are all used to being spoiled here on campus; our dorms, classrooms, and food are indulgent to say the least. But up till now we were at least paying for it ourselves.

An email I just got a few weeks ago proclaimed “$80 million in stimulus grant awarded to WashU.” It seems or beloved institution will be nicking a cool 80 mil out of the government pocket. For the record, I support the stimulus, government spending and public funding for education and research… I’m not a crazy tea bagger, but RAHHHHHHHH!! I can’t take it no more! ROARRR!!! Those knuckleheads in Washington are screwing everything up!!!!! What are they thinking??? The entire system is a huge mess!!!

*Whew.

Ok, I got that rant out of my system. But now that I have regained some semblance of rationality, I have to ask, do we really need this money, and do we really deserve it?

I think not. First of all, WashU has one the largest endowments in the country, over $28 billion. As University’s across the country are thrashing and clawing to keep their heads above water, Wash U faces a paltry $30 million budget gap. Other universities, including state universities that are actually supposed to get public money, could use it more. Whether or not the government should be giving that kind of money to private institutions to begin with, public schools should come first.

Of course, the real blame here falls on the government. You can’t really blame WashU for trying to get money. So why are we being given $80 million of federal stimulus money? The fund will support, among other things, productive activities like putting seismographs on the ocean floor and researching how seeds spread. Not particularly stimulating, is it?

The whole idea of stimulus money was to

• Create new jobs as well as save existing ones
• Spur economic activity and invest in long-term economic growth

That is, to provide productive spending that would have an immediate impact. The would seem to imply that building infrastructure and providing services should take priority over esoteric research. Yet WashU still ends up with a sizable chunk of change, even though university research is notoriously inefficient and will probably take years to spend all of the money.

Saving jobs is also a key function of the stimulus, but I doubt the “talented and experienced faculty who have distinguished themselves as world-class researchers” as the WashU press calls them, are going to have to join the unemployment line with or without this money.  These jobs were not on their way out before this money came along.

So yes, research is useful, indeed it is necessary. The stimulus is a good idea in principle. And yes, we need stimulus money to increase consumer spending in the US and save jobs from a downward spiral. But stimulating the economy through slow academic research and saving jobs that don’t need to be saved is a stupid way to do it.