Nobody is waterboarding the money down their throat. They can say no. The actual question is: why don't they?
Leaving aside that metaphor, the obvious answer is that they either like or need it. Most likely the former, because many of these well known universities are swimming in money already.
What is the downside to the school of a nicer student union or a public policy/international relations campus in the nation's capital?
So the researcher intentionally changes some of the ways the data is collected and poof, it looks like the policy works. Extra funding comes your way but now you have committed academic fraud. Not that anything will happen to you for this, but still, you know you did it. That's what the GP is talking about and it happens quite a bit in the humanities and economics. Its why private economists and public economists almost seem like different species.
Whether you believe what he said or not, my questions remain.