Universities Defend Awards of Earmarked Funds at House Hearings: Committee members say facitities, projects may be worthwhile, but Congress shouldn't be deciding who gets what

Representatives of three universities, each of which received funds directly from Congress during the current fiscal year, were in the line of fire during House hearings earlier this month. The questions were acerbic as the House Science, Space & Technology Committee concluded hearings on academic earmarks (CE William A. Polf, deputy vice president for health sciences at Columbia University in New York City, which obtained $10 million to build an environmental health sciences research center; and David Gute, interim director of Tufts University's Center for Environmental Management, which secured $3.2 million for the center. Written testimony was submitted by Harvill C. Eaton, vice chancellor of office research and economic development at Louisiana State University (LSU), who said he was unable to testify in person "because of t...