Big Ten universities affirm research importance

IU Provost Karen Hanson joined academic leaders of other Big Ten universities to affirm the importance of maintaining research programs on college campuses.\nHanson responded to Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust, who was quoted in BusinessWeek suggesting that universities that don’t receive Ivy League endowments should focus primarily on social science and humanities research instead of “ambitious” scientific research, according to an IU media press release.\nThe letter, which can be viewed online, was signed by the provosts of 10 Big Ten universities and the University of Illinois-Chicago, according to the press release.\nHanson wrote that as senior academic leaders of 11 public research universities, the group “emphatically rejects” that notion. \n“Collectively, our institutions educate more than 380,000 students, produce one in every eight American Ph.D.s and conduct more than $2.5 billion worth of research every year,” she wrote.\nThe provosts wrote that public universities have for the past quarter-century been “in the grip of a funding vise,” constrained by tight state budgets, growing enrollment and pressure to hold the line on tuition, according to the press release.\n“If we are to continue the extraordinary process of discovery and creativity that is the hallmark of our great research universities,” the provosts wrote, “we must be willing to provide the support our public institutions need to sustain their educational and scientific excellence. The ultimate stakeholder is the nation. And the stakes are high.”\nThe letter can be viewed online at www.businessweek.com.