A few weeks back, Drew Faust endured probably the only controversy (and a small one, at that) of her first year when she was quoted in Business Week as suggesting that smaller private universities and many public ones could not afford to compete with wealthy universities such as Harvard in the realm of scientific research, and should consider cutting efforts in that area while beefing up work in the relatively cheaper humanities.

After a flurry of how-dare-she retorts from presidents of such places, Faust insisted that she had been misquoted by the magazine, and Business Week kinda-sorta issued a retraction.

In fact, Faust's only mistake really was in telling the truth. It's unfortunate that she didn't have the courage of her convictions, because she was right. In fact, the situation for many public universities is more dire than that, thanks to funding freezes and budget cuts.

As Chronicle of Higher Education reports (subscription only), public universities such as the University of Wisconsin-Madison are so hard up for money, they're losing both scientists and humanists to Harvard and its peers.

The problem is money. Wisconsin's stagnating state higher-education budget has forced the university to keep faculty salaries far below average. When professors get feelers from elsewhere, they learn that a move can easily mean a whopping 100-percent salary increase—sometimes more.

The departures have hit the College of Letters and Science hardest.....

What universities are leading the salary charge? Rockefeller University has an average professorial salary of $191, 200. After that is Harvard, at $184, 800.....