A halt to earmarking.

A halt to earmarking 

By a vote of 43 to 10, with two abstentions,members of the Association of American Universities (AAU), based in Washington, D.C., have approved a resolution agreeing to observe a moratorium on seeking funds for research facilities by going directly to Congress. The mail ballot followed a lengthy, heated debate at the AAU's annual meeting last month (SN: 4/18/87, p.246).

In a letter to the association's members,Robert M. Rosenzweig, AAU president, admits that the AAU can't force compliance with the moratorium on congressional earmarking. But he suggests that breaking the moratorium would seriously undermine the AAU. "Seventy-eight percent of its members have voted in favor of a difficult, but they believe necessary, course of action,' he says. "Those who voted on the other side will, I am confident, give serious consideration to what that means.'

Rosenzweig plans to urge other academicassociations to establish a similar moratorium and to seek their support in favor of legislation, now before Congress, establishing a competitive program for funding research facilities. Meanwhile, says Rosenzweig, the AAU will no longer fight specific earmarked grants, once they come before Congress, unless those grants are for research rather than buildings. The AAU will also oppose earmarks that appear to reduce funds that would otherwise be available on a competitive basis.