It's not federal funding per se; it's the requirements that come along with it, usually in the name of preventing 'fraud' or 'abuse'. I wholeheartedly believe y

It's not federal funding per se; it's the requirements that come along with it, usually in the name of preventing 'fraud' or 'abuse'. I wholeheartedly believe you could spend a lot less on oversight, tolerate a small amount of wasteful spending, and come out far, far, far ahead. The flip side of this, however, is that some (usually Republican) congressman would be able to rant about how scientists are wasting your tax dollars. Nobody, certainly not the dean, wants to deal with that kind of negative publicity. And so, every order gets stamped and signed and countersigned, often with an eight-by-ten color glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining the "business purpose" of the item. This still doesn't totally stop idiots from ranting about "Who buys video games and cocaine to monkeys?!" or "Why do shrimp need a treadmill?" However, it gives the university a little bit of cover--and since a lot of this work gets lumped in with other stuff, no one ever figures out how much time and money that wastes.