Koch Fueling Far Right Academic Centers At Universities Across The Country

[cal04]

Koch Fueling Far Right Academic Centers At Universities Across The Country
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/05/11/koch-university-takeover/

Yesterday, ThinkProgress highlighted reports from the St. Petersburg Times and the Tallahassee Democrat regarding a Koch-funded economics department at Florida State University (FSU). FSU had accepted a $1.5 million grant from a foundation controlled by petrochemical billionaire Charles Koch on the condition that Koch’s operatives would have a free hand in selecting professors and approving publications. The simmering controversy sheds light on the vast influence of the Koch political machine, which spans from the top conservative think tanks, Republican politicians, a small army of contracted lobbyists, and Tea Party front groups in nearly every state.

As reporter Kris Hundley notes, Koch virtually owns much of George Mason University, another public university, through grants and direct control over think tanks within the school. For instance, Koch controls the Mercatus Center of George Mason University, an institute that set much of the Bush administration’s environmental deregulation policy. And similar conditional agreements have been made with schools like Clemson and West Virginia University. ThinkProgress has analyzed data from the Charles Koch Foundation, and found that this trend is actually much larger than previous known. Many of the Koch university grants finance far right, pro-polluter professors, and dictate that students read Charles Koch’s book as part of their academic study:

(snip)
West Virginia University:
Brown University:
Troy University:
Utah State University:

(snip)
Overall, Koch is still a dominate player when it comes to meddling with academic integrity. Part of the effort is coordinated through operatives like Richard Fink, who doubles as a vice president at Koch’s corporate lobbying office. Through an organization called the Association of Private Enterprise Education, Koch organizes these corporate-funded university departments into a power intellectual movement. The organization allows Koch staffers in Washington DC to request certain types of studies, interfere with hiring decisions, and reward loyal free market academics with hefty research grants.

[sasha031]

1. yesterday I read about Florida,

had no idea they have spread their venom across the country. This is scary, Universities obviously could care less where the money comes from.

[OHdem10]

2. Control what people laarn and you control society. Just another

step in securing a RW Society.

[ellenfl]

3. bingo. eom

[tanyev]

4. "Far Right Academic Center" is too wordy. How about Koxymoron?