Congressman, Still Pissed About A-Jad, Tries Cutting Columbia’s Purse Strings
Representative Duncan Hunter (R-CA) -- who fantasizes that he will someday be president, if the Romney clone-family militia doesn't take him out first -- has introduced legislation to cut Columbia's access to federal grants as punishment for last week's Ahmadinejad circus.
The Restore Patriotism to America's Campuses Act would deny Columbia's $458 million annual Fed allowance, reports Inside Higher Ed. Hunter's press release argues that Columbia's hospitality "lends credibility" to A-Jad's "antics," just as old Mrs. Wilson's cookies foolishly encouraged the "antics" of Dennis the Menace. "State-sanctioned terrorists say the darndest things!" he concludes. Ok, fine, here's what ba-dunk-a-Dunc really said:
I believe this legislation is an appropriate and reasonable response to an institution that welcomes a sponsor of terrorism while saying no to our nation's collegiate military training and recruitment program. ... If Columbia University wants to continue hosting our adversaries while turning its back on our military, then U.S. taxpayers should not be required to support the University's programs.
In case there's any confusion, Congressman Hunter is the one Ann Coulter supports, likely because both are fans of loud, pointless publicity stunts. There's no way an attack on Columbia's coffer will make it out of committee.
Full-text of Dunc the Donut's so-called legislation after the jump.
H.R. 3675, To prohibit federal grants to or contracts with Columbia University:
HR 3675 IH
110th CONGRESS1st Session H. R. 3675
To prohibit Federal grants to or contracts with Columbia University.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 26, 2007
Mr. HUNTER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor
A BILL
To prohibit Federal grants to or contracts with Columbia University.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Restore Patriotism to University Campuses Act'.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the destruction of the State of Israel, a critical ally of the United States.
(2) In January 2007, commander of Multinational Corps-Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno stated that the United States had traced back to Iran serial numbers of weapons captured in Iraq, including rocket-propelled grenades, roadside bombs and Katyusha rockets.
(3) These types of weapons have been used in Iraq to kill and injure members of American, Iraqi, and coalition forces and undermine the nascent Iraqi government.
(4) Despite Iran's support for terrorism, Columbia University extended an invitation to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to address students and faculty from the University campus.
(5) Columbia University dissolved its long-standing Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program on campus because of disagreement with United States military policy, and for nearly four decades has not invited the return of any ROTC program to the University campus.
(6) Despite this fact, Columbia University has continued to accept funds made available through ROTC scholarships, while University faculty continue to oppose United States military policies and law.
(7) Through their invitation, Columbia University provided a public, prestigious platform on United States soil from which on September 24, 2007, President Ahmadinejad spoke and defended his wide-ranging support for terrorist activities.
SEC. 3. DENIAL OF FUNDS.
(a) Denial of Funds for Permitting State Terrorist Access to Campus- No funds described in subsection (b)(1) may be provided by contract or by grant to Columbia University of New York, New York, or any subelement of Columbia University.
(b) Covered Funds-
(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the limitations established in subsection (a) apply to the following:
(A) Any funds made available for the Department of Defense.
(B) Any funds made available for any department or agency for which regular appropriations are made in a Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.
(C) Any funds made available for the Department of Homeland Security.
(D) Any funds made available for the National Nuclear Security Administration of the Department of Energy.
(E) Any funds made available for the Department of Transportation.
(F) Any funds made available for the Central Intelligence Agency.
(2) Any Federal funding specified in paragraph (1) that is provided to an institution of higher education, or to an individual, to be available solely for student financial assistance, related administrative costs, or costs associated with attendance, may be used for the purpose for which the funding is provided.
(c) Notice of Determinations- Whenever the head of a Federal department or agency makes a determination under subsection (a) or (b), the head of such department or agency--
(1) shall transmit a notice of the determination to the Secretary of Education, to the head of each other department and agency the funds of which are subject to the determination, and to Congress; and
(2) shall publish in the Federal Register a notice of the determination and the effect of the determination on the eligibility of Columbia University for contracts and grants.
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October 1st, 2007 at 7:14 pm
Not that I’m a fan of Columbia, A-Jad, or the military, but how much sense does it make for Columbia to a) deny ROTC then b) accept federal ROTC scholarship money.
I think the whole “restore patriotism” thing is BS, but I think any logical person would agree that schools who don’t participate in ROTC shouldn’t get ROTC-based funding.
Cutting all federal funding is stupid, though.
October 1st, 2007 at 7:24 pm
A massive portion of that federal money that goes to Columbia is for patents held by CU, and also by the massive amount of DoD research that goes on there.
Although nearly half a billion for an ROTC program Columbia only sorta, kinda has sounds nice, it’s not the whole story.
October 1st, 2007 at 7:45 pm
More likely it’s NIH money (med research). Columbia doesn’t do DoD research anymore.
October 1st, 2007 at 8:59 pm
Actually a lot of it is medical research, it’s just for the DoD. The Department of Defense doesn’t just research how to kill people, it also researches how to save em.
October 1st, 2007 at 11:18 pm
Lion, before you make a statement, make sure you have your facts straight. You better believe you take DOD money, it’s not too hard to find it either: eg http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=544
October 2nd, 2007 at 4:54 am
The link you posted is a 12 year old press release for funds lasting 5 years. So yeah, that’s 7 years old.
Not only that, the only time CU was mentioned was with an affiliated institution; the PI getting the money was never a member of CU staff.
Point is, DoD money isn’t a significant portion of CU’s grant money; NIH research is. And there’s no way that’s getting cut off.
Note: NIH is under the Dept of Health and Human Services.
October 2nd, 2007 at 7:04 am
OK how about this one: http://www.nyp.org/news/hospital/742.html
The point is you said, “Columbia doesn’t do DoD research anymore.” That clearly is not the case.
October 2nd, 2007 at 11:39 am
Hey there, Columbia’s friendly neighborhood ROTC guy here…
You know, it really tick’s me off when I see politicians or the media (e.g. Fox News) hijack the Columbia ROTC issue for their own purposes. How does Ahmadinejad have ANYTHING to do with our efforts to return ROTC to campus? I just don’t see the analogy. One is a pre-professional program, the other is a guest speaker. These people don’t think member’s of the military would be permitted to speak on campus? Heck three years ago we hosted the commander of U.S. forces in Korea. A 3-star general. John McCain was the commencement speaker in 2006.
This congressman needs to get off his high horse and start doing something productive – like maybe repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell so we can actually bring ROTC back to campus rather than listening to politicians complain about it all the time.
October 2nd, 2007 at 11:46 am
Lion,
While the largest bulk of funding does come from NIH/HHS, grants from the DoD and DoE make up very large chunks of Columbia’s federal funding as well. Indeed, as was mentioned before, DoD funded medical research is particularly well represented at CUMC.
October 2nd, 2007 at 9:02 pm
Duncan Hunter should go ahead and try to pass that.
And Columbia, if it has any balls should say, hey, go ahead. If the government doesn’t want world class scientists and researchers from Columbia to do work for the NIH, DoD, etc, that’s fine. They are the ones missing out.
And “the lion” is wrong as pointed out, we do do DoD research. One of my EE professors is funded by them.
October 2nd, 2007 at 9:10 pm
“but I think any logical person would agree that schools who don’t participate in ROTC shouldn’t get ROTC-based funding”
Wait wait wait… is it just me or is this person on crack? What is wrong with getting ROTC based funding, funding meaning scholarship money. The military, or its servicemen/officers choose to apply to Columbia, Columbia in turn gives them an education/degree. Columbia has to be paid somehow, the source of this payment is completely independent, if not irrelevant of Columbia allowing ROTC on campus. It is not like ROTC is paying a premium for tuition or something.
October 3rd, 2007 at 5:49 am
Actually I was the second “Lion” poster, distinct from the first.
Of course CU gets SOME DoD funding, but the vast majority is still NIH; P&S/CUMC’s major government funding is without a doubt from the NIH/CDC and other specifically health-related government organizations.
http://finance.columbia.edu/controller/resources/2206A133.pdf
DoD grant expenditures: 14mil (pg 122)
Dept Energy: 14mil (pg 118)
Dept Commerce: 14mil (pg 124)
NASA: 15mil (pg 115)
NSF: 74mil (pg 111)
NIH: 335mil (pg 93)
Total Dept of Health: 364mil (pg 93, includes NIH)
Total research funding expenditures of federal rewards: 504mil
As you can see, it’s mostly NIH.