Yesterday, Summers accompanied a group that included MIT president Charles M. Vest to the White House for meetings with several of President Bush’s domestic policy advisers.

Casey said as part of the coalition, Summers was representing the collective interest of the schools involved, going beyond Harvard’s particular interest.

“The presidents were working collectively to say that science funding is in the nation’s interest,” Casey said.

According to Casey, last year’s budget was one of the best in terms of funding for the broad spectrum of science endeavors.

This year however, Bush’s budget includes a big increase for the National Institute of Health, but keeps funding for science research through the departments of energy and defense relatively constant.

Casey said as a result, university lobbying is now focused on convincing congress to include funding for these other areas.

“The universities involved are expressing the need to fund all of the different sciences, not just biomedical science,” Casey said.