In today’s Pope Center article, our outreach coordinator, Jenna Robinson, and our intern, John Eick, write about the gusher of money that Washington pours into higher ed every year.

One of the large categories is research funding, and the article quotes some knowledgeable scholars with direct experience who say that government funding of research isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Evidently, government money crowds out private funding and does so with this perverse twist: The feds tend to confine research money to “existing research paths,” says Prof. Jack Sommer.

Jenna and John also cover some recent federal higher-ed projects in North Carolina. Do you think the country needed to spend money on a project to “digitally record the dance moves of performers”?