The participation of North American university groups in research and development projects related to the design of a Linear Collider has increased by 50% in the last twelve months. Autonomous university groups joining the effort are faced with a complicated mix of technical, sociological, and governmental challenges. Some of the non-technical problems are peculiarly American in nature. I will describe recent developments in the American program and comment on subjects ranging from the R&D projects at universities to the sociology that influences the rapid transformations in the North American research landscape.
