Koch Donation to Florida State University Comes With Controversial Strings

Earlier this year, the conservative Koch brothers made headlines during the imbroglio over Wisconsin public union employees. The Kansas siblings have returned to the news. The new venue is Florida, where the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation offered Florida State University (FSU) a lucrative donation. In exchange for the money, FSU would establish an economics department initiative "for the study of 'political economy and free enterprise,'" according to a story in today's Miami Herald that originally appeared in the St. Petersburg Times.

Of course, the Koch handout came with strings. Most significantly, the foundation could cease funding the program if "faculty hired with its money were not complying with (Koch's) goals." Academic freedom, which universities have solemnly sworn to uphold, would be at risk in this arrangement.

While it's hard to sympathize with a money-first university, it's nearly impossible to feel simpatico with right-wing funders such as Mr. Koch (see photo). Brother K's idea of free enterprise is to keep things as free as possible for him, and let others provide the sweat equity. In that sense, his willingness to corrupt has found a match in morally (and often financially) bankrupt academia.