ABSTRACT
The university is where the work of science gets done. Thus, 116 out of the 122 Nobel prizes bestowed on American scientists since the end of World War II went to scientists in our universities. The big money for science in our universities has come from the "mission" agencies with the biggest appropriations. The military and paramilitary and the health agencies have supplied more than 85" of the cumulative flow. The money goes not to the universities, but through the universities to the scientists. Over time the ambiguity has been resolving in favor of the granting agency. As the presidents of the leading research universities not long ago complained, "'mission-oriented' grants are now 'task oriented'". Consideration of measures to reduce the crushing federal pressure, to restore autonomy to the universities, and to secure again for university scientists the freedom to do their own work should begin with recognition that the federal presence in the universities is decisive.
