Longtime reader Roger Albin, a neurologist at the University of Michigan Medical School, writes:

The National Research Council (arm of the National Academy) issued a report on research universities.  The main focus is on science and technology but among their recommendations are increasing Federal research funding, increased state funding of universities, and increased autonomy for universities. There is a strong editiorial from the chair of the committee that assembled the report, the former head of DuPont, in this week's Science. The report is published by the National Academies Press (http://www.nap.edu/).  Interested readers should be able to download the report or at least its executive summary from that site, though the link doesn't seem to be working properly today. 

Like many of these reports, this one was requested by important Congressional figures, who will probably not understand it.  The short term impact of things like this will probably be negligble but there may be beneficial long term effects. 

UPDATE:  Anne Jacobson (Houston) points out that there is also a video related to the new report, which you can see here.