This is a bewildering POV. If the research is published its public domain. If they then want to use that research to start a company why not? You could too if you read their dissertation and understood it well enough.
1. Universities can and regularly do file patents, including public unis and including research funded with federal grants. See the Bayh-Dole Act.
2. Researchers can and often do choose not to publish research or research output (eg code) that might be commercially valuable.
3. Even the papers, including open access ones that can download and read for free, are almost never public domain.
It simply states some facts and corrects parents misconceptions about how research is funded.