Up until recently, Kansas policies placed a high value on research and public education as key economic drivers for the state. Just think for a moment about some of the wise investments and tremendous progress Kansas has made in the area of research in the fairly recent past. We’ve invested millions of dollars in the University of Kansas Cancer Center to successfully achieve the National Cancer Institute Designation. Likewise, we’ve invested $250 million plus to establish the Bioscience Research Institute at Kansas State University and to successfully bring the National Bio Agro Defense Facility, NBAF, to Manhattan. These are both very important successes that have major research implications and potential huge economic benefit for the state.

Where I’m headed is asking the question, as time goes on, with Kansas showing a lack of appreciation for research and decreasing funding to our two major public research institutions: isn’t it likely that we will pay a major price at some point?

For KU, the Cancer Institute Designation that has brought earlier access for Kansans to the latest cancer treatments, will that continue? The NCI Designation was for five years and will have to be renewed. In the current environment, how good will we look for renewal and/or expansion of that valuable designation? I think of the huge effort to attract the scientists, build the infrastructure, and put together a plan to implement that not only got the designation desired but put us on the path to producing real, tangible results. Will that all be for naught?

For NBAF to reach its full potential as a major federal lab, the talent to go into the building will make a big difference. Attracting that talent to a state disrespecting the value of research and cutting resources for education at all levels will not be easy. The same can be said for the Bioscience Research Institute, built with much Federal help, to be a level three lab and smooth the transition of zoonotic research from Plum Island to Kansas. As an economic aside, the potential to attract future private and Federal investment would surely be impacted.

How, in just a few years, could we go from bipartisan, united political leadership at all levels to an environment that questions the value of research in general and has little appreciation for the linkage to economic success for Kansas and its people? Will we continue on this path?

Also in this blog series on higher education: Focus on Higher Education: An Introduction, Some Personal Background, and It Hasn't Always Been This Way for Higher Education.

As I post this, education continues to dominate the news out of Topeka. The Governor is expected to sign a bill that demolishes the current funding formula for K-12 schools, which will not only lead to significant cuts but also make a mockery of our constitutional commitment to education. However, it looks like the courts may have something to say, so don’t conclude at this point that the issue is over, even for this session.

With that said, for now, I’d like to turn the attention to our institutions of higher education that face similar funding realities. In particular, I will focus on research and our two major public research institutions, the University of Kansas and Kansas State University.

With the recession fading, many states are increasing their support for higher education. So how can it be that the conversation and action out of our State Capitol seem to focus on cutting the budgets of our two major research institutions? Here in Kansas, with no tornado (at the moment) for excuse, we seem to be going backwards and, for some, with glee. Our Kansas Board of Regents recently expressed outrage at the latest Senate budget proposal as noted in a March 11th Lawrence Journal World article.

In the blog posts that will follow, I will lay out the significance of negative attitudes and dollars for university research, discuss the hard-to-believe reversal by leaders of our state following huge bipartisan-supported investments in research, provide some history about how all this took place, and—perhaps most importantly—raise the point that if those Kansans who support these institutions are not speaking up, it’s likely that we’re only seeing the beginning of the harm.

Also in this blog series on higher education: Some Personal Background, Are We Reversing Our Direction on Research?, and It Hasn't Always Been This Way for Higher Education.