Stanford was at the heart of the Global Warming grant money trend in 1990. At the time, the Ozone Hole was the big talk of the news every night, but the grant money was drying up. I was doing a space systems field study experiment at the time for my PhD at Sandford and someone mentioned the Global Warming thing. First I had heard of it. I didn’t need grant money as I was DoD/Intel funded for everything I ever did, but the place was buzzing for climate study money.
I was surprised anyone bought that nonsense as we were concerned at the time from DMSP data that the Earth was cooling and headed into an ice age by 2030. Ice core samples showed 2030 being the point when temps could become radically negative below the average. Starting in 2023, people would notice snow accumulations in places that usually only saw snow every 100 years.
What was interesting about Stanford was that grant money mattered far more to the institution than anything else. They were wealthy, had billions in pledges and in their bank accounts, yet, everything rotated on more money. Arts departments became science to them if they could score money, and that is where we are today. The Arts departments run the Science departments.
It seems that many universities are in a nosedive with no intention of pulling out of it. But not in China.