The Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE) is one of the only agencies out there to fund projects that take comparative looks at multiple institutions. The Republicans in Congress have voted to de-fund the competitive pool for grants entirely, to replace it with 'earmarks' (pork barrel projects) for particularly well-placed Republican legislators.
The Irascible Professor said it better than I could, here.
Let me get this straight. In order to pay for the latest round of tax cuts and wars, we're going to de-fund one of the few agencies in higher ed that actually tried to make INTELLIGENT COST-CUTTING POSSIBLE.
Sigh.
