At least at my home institution.
We believe that our scientists will be highly competitive for these research dollars
I’d rather our scientists be competitive … being scientists.
Since May, a total of 116 University of Rochester employees had their salaries paid for, in whole or in part, with ARRA-related funds. Research labs are typically engaged in multiple projects simultaneously, many of which are supported by separate research grants. Hence, faculty and lab employees’ salaries are often paid out of different research accounts. When ARRA-related activity is consolidated to reflect full-time-equivalent positions, the awards fully funded the equivalent of 35 jobs through the end of September.
We used to have a saying, “funds are fungible.” My salary is no less paid by the ARRA payola funds than those folks. In any case, if the justification for stimulus was to emplor previously unemployed resources, how does this satisfy that criteria? We didn’t even get our campus parking lots relined or repaved either.
