Brooklyn College Defends Academic Freedom By Saying No To Koch Millions For Its Business School | Alternet

Some may remember my post concerning the Kochs and Florida State University,,,

Brooklyn College of the City University of New York has a new academic credential.

Unlike an estimated 150 colleges and universities that have taken $56 million from the billionaire libertarian industrialist Koch brothers since the 1980s—and then integrated their extreme right-wing agenda into business classes while censoring other views—the New York City college keeps rejecting Koch cash, an aggrieved libertarian business school professor complained in a detailed report by InsideHigherEd.com.

The libertarian professor, Mitchell Langbert, apparently approached the Charles C. Koch Foundation twice—in June 2013 and again this January—seeking multi-million dollar grants to expand Brooklyn College’s business faculty. Langbert’s effort, however, were apparently rejected by his supervisors, who did not want to pursue the grants.

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Brooklyn College is not the only school that has said no to Koch cash. Late last year, 50 educators at The Catholic University of America signed a letter protesting a $1 million donation from the Charles Koch Foundation to help start a business school. They noted the “stark contrast between the Koch brothers’ public policy agenda and our Church’s traditional social justice teachings.”

“Given the troubling track record the foundation has in making gifts to universities that in some cases include unacceptable meddling in academic content and the hiring process of faculty, we urge you to be more transparent about the details of this grant. Charles and David Koch have an ideological agenda when it comes to shaping the national debate over economics and politics that is not simply academic in nature,” their letter said.

“The Koch brothers are billionaire industrialists who fund organizations that advance public policies that directly contradict Catholic teaching on a range of moral issues from economic justice to environmental stewardship. As you well know, Catholic social teaching articulates a positive role for government, an indispensable role for unions, just tax policies, and the need for prudent regulation of financial markets in service of the common good. We are concerned that by accepting such a donation you send a confusing message to Catholic students and other faithful Catholics that the Koch brothers’ anti- government, Tea Party ideology has the blessing of a university sanctioned by Catholic bishops.”


Brooklyn College Defends Academic Freedom By Saying No To Koch Millions For Its Business School | Alternet

Column: Some fear Charles Koch's influence damages FSU's integrity | Tampa Bay Times

The story, you may recall, is not entirely new. Koch's foundation has been funneling money to the economics department at FSU since 2008. This would be the same Koch who funds ultraconservative think tanks and preaches less government regulation.

The relationship at FSU drew howls of protest in 2011 when a couple of professors uncovered a memorandum that indicated Koch could wield considerable influence over the hiring of professors and some of the curriculum in economics classes.

FSU officials initially denied he had that type of power on campus, but a Faculty Senate review determined the agreement with Koch had several troublesome features. The school vowed to fix the agreement and the story soon disappeared from the headlines.

Except Wilson and other students kept bugging the school about the revised agreement. When they finally saw it, they discovered Koch's influence was not entirely neutered, and they wrote an op-ed in the Tallahassee Democrat voicing their concerns.

One big issue: that Koch still has indirect veto power on some faculty hiring.

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Tyson said the biggest change in the new agreement was ensuring the faculty has final say over the curriculum. Others, however, are worried about Koch's role in the hiring of professors.

The economics department will continue to follow the university's normal hiring procedures and will be free to hire anyone it sees fit. Once the offer has been made, however, Koch will be allowed to pull the funding if he is not happy with FSU's choice. If that happens, the school will then be on the hook for that professor's salary.

While it is not a direct veto, it does give FSU a strong incentive to recruit professors who agree with Koch's free market ideas.

Column: Some fear Charles Koch's influence damages FSU's integrity | Tampa Bay Times