Perhaps due to its research commitment[0]?
North Carolina is another state where research was historically very important to the economy.
Even if you don't think the US should fund as much research, this austerity approach is directly impacting the economies of many communities - and not all of them are in deep blue states.
Here in Pittsburgh it’s a point of pride that Pitt has such a long running positive track record in medical research.
I posted it to note how big of a deal NIH funding is to the University. Cutting NIH funding will have an outsize effect.
It's fine to link to another post, of course, and an email to hn@ycombinator.com is always appreciated if there are duelling dupes going on.
If PA works like some other places I know, there would be something of a rivalry between those two schools, so it was a little unusual to see the two threads on the frontpage at the same time.