The Koch brothers, the multi-billionaires who are free-market Libertarians, are at it again--this time spending millions to acquire the patina of intellectual respectability.
According to an article in today's St. Petersburg Times, the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation has paid $1.5M to Florida State University for the right to have a say in which candidates can be considered for positions in the economics department.
According to the article:
Under the agreement with the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, however, faculty only retain the illusion of control. The contract specifies that an advisory committee appointed by Koch decides which candidates should be considered. The foundation can also withdraw its funding if it's not happy with the faculty's choice or if the hires don't meet "objectives" set by Koch during annual evaluations.
Predictably, the Dean of the college of Social Sciences defends the arrangement:
Rasmussen said hiring the two new assistant professors allows him to offer eight additional courses a year. "I'm sure some faculty will say this is not exactly consistent with their view of academic freedom,'' he said. "But it seems to me it would have been irresponsible not to do it."
Others, whose expertise lies in the ethics of such issues, are not so sanguine:
Most universities, including the University of Florida, 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, who has reviewed dozens of contracts between universities and donors, called the Koch agreement with FSU "truly shocking."
Said Washburn, author of University Inc., a book on industry's ties to academia: "This is an egregious example of a public university being willing to sell itself for next to nothing."
So now, it appears, not only are the Koch brothers attempting to directly influence legislation through their funding of lobbyists and think-tanks, but they are attempting to produce a generation of "like thinkers" by subverting academic freedom.
And Florida State University was willing to sell theirs for a paltry $1.5M.
Shameful.