Koch brothers sought say in academic hiring in return for university donation
The billionaire Koch brothers attempted to wield political influence over appointments and teaching at a major US university in exchange for donations, newly published documents reveal.
Internal emails and memos from the economics department of Florida State University (FSU) open a window into the kind of direct pressure the Kochs seek to exert over academic institutions in return for their largesse. The 16 pages of documents, obtained by the Center for Public Integrity, show that the energy tycoons demanded through their grant-giving arm, the Charles Koch Foundation, a role in faculty appointments and an emphasis on teaching that was in tune with their radical political views.
Charles and David Koch are major funders of the Tea Party and other ultra-rightwing movements that oppose government intervention and advocate for an unregulated free market.
A memo drawn up by the then chair of the FSU economics department, Bruce Benson, set out the Kochs' terms for funding, noting that "the proposal is ... not to just give us money to hire anyone we want and fund any graduate student that we choose. There are constraints."
A section of the memo headlined "Constrained hiring" says: "As we all know, there are no free lunches. Everything comes with costs. In this case, the money for faculty lines and graduate students is coming from a group of funding organisations with strong libertarian views. These organisations have an explicit agenda.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/12/koch-brothers-sought-say-academic-hiring-university-donation
Many donors attempt to put conditions on their donations. The Koch's certainly aren't the first and they won't be the last.
It led many of the wealthy to start their own universities at the turn of the century. Maybe the Koch's will do just that.
Quote from: spuwho on September 15, 2014, 11:50:54 AM
Many donors attempt to put conditions on their donations. The Koch's certainly aren't the first and they won't be the last.
True enough, but rarely do they involve direct input into the appointment of faculty members. Traditionally, university donors have little official input into choosing the person who fills a chair they've funded. The power of university faculty and officials to choose professors without outside interference is considered a hallmark of academic freedom.
Most universities have policies that strictly limit donors' influence over the use of their gifts. Yale University once returned $20 million when the donor demanded veto power over appointments, saying such control was "unheard of."
Jennifer Washburn [http://www.amazon.com/University-Inc-Corporate-Corruption-Education/dp/0465090524/ref=la_B001HD34CK_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1410797742&sr=1-1], who has reviewed dozens of contracts between universities and donors, called the Koch agreement with FSU "truly shocking."
Just think of the jobs that could have been created with the billions the kocks have poured into controling our polical system..they taint our whole system with their BS.
That Yale story is funny. "Unheard of at Yale" but not uncommon elsewhere. They can afford to set the terms of acceptance. Many schools cant.
I remember a university president complaining that there were no donors who would give money with no strings attached. They all wanted input to how the money was spent and used. Naming rights, statues, architecture of the buildings, the list was endless.
So someone put it back in the presidents face and said "you mean if someone would walk up with 20 million you could get the toilets fixed in the guys dorms after all these years?
Big grin on the president's face before he said (tongue in cheek) "then I would drive the building of statues and naming rights and it would all be after me!"
He went on to say "no one gives money to have their name above a urinal or toilet....to fix the things we really need...they give to create the things we (they) want"
Quote from: spuwho on September 15, 2014, 01:56:45 PM
...but not uncommon elsewhere.
Can you back this statement up? No one is saying donations don't come with strings. The difference is that very few places let the donor have a veto over their faculty.
I was speaking to donations in general. I am not aware of any faculty demands by a donor but I am sure they exist.
Um . . . radical political views? Are they serious? The scare words liberally used in that nominally straight news piece are absolutely hilarious.
Ooooohhh . . . ultra right wing. I guess there's no thinking required if the totalitarians at the Guardian have labeled them ultra right wing.
I wonder if the Guardian could delineate these so-called radical political views within some sort of context. There are many, many economics departments and other academic disciplines that cherish and vigorously defend left-wing scholars with genuinely radical political stances from an American perspective.
Why is it even news, one wonders, that a libertarian funded initiative doesn't want some Marxist clown to come in and co-opt the institute they are funding?
finehoe, contrary points of view are permitted at FSU, aren't they? Even from a funding source that demands a certain fidelity to certain academic principles -- correct? Heaven knows tenure decisions certainly have been routinely made based on those blatantly political determinants at universities all over the world.
But somehow the Koch Brothers can't establish a modest, minority beachhead on campus? For real !?!
FineHoe.....but it's perfectly fine to use University funds to pay someone (HRC) $250,000 for a 50 minute lecture with no questions allowed. Sorry, doesn't pass the smell test.
Perhaps, instead of paying $20M, the Koch brothers should offer FSU a paid academic year-long lecture series by world leaders and statesmen that the the Koch brothers choose. Would that satisfy your instincts for academic freedom, even though it would only be for one year, not a continuing resource for FSU?
So the Koch brothers pay the money and have control over the professor.
I don't see the problem; no one would be forced to take the class or attend the lectures.
Forgive my extremist fantasy as to solution. I sense that its expected. In any case, I firmly recommend that someone, upon discovering these two brothers standing together, send twin .. flying side-by-side ... high speed projectiles ... perhaps 1,500 fps or so ... into the foreheads of these two filthy rich elitists ... these two ... bent on maintaining the current inequalities of income and wealth ... bent on increasing their wealth at any cost to the health of the economy ... thus perpetuating the condition wherein no real jobs exist for the mass of workers. >:(