>A philosophical question for general discussion:
>
>Why should a central university office review and approve proposals before
>they are submitted to external sponsors?

The ultimate (& only) reason central university offices do _anything_ at all
is money & liability--that's why they're there.  As for the positive and/or
negative effects on funding proposals, that's a different story, and is
probably what you were asking.
Cynically yours,
Kevin

Kevin Crosby
Grants Administrator
Office of Sponsored Programs & Research
DePaul University
xxxxxx@condor.depaul.edu
http://condor.depaul.edu/~kcrosby/ospr.html