Conservatives in the ivory tower
LAST WEEK, Florida State University announced it would review the terms of a $1.5 million gift from the Charles G. Koch Foundation to ensure the school’s integrity was protected. The gift allows a Koch Foundation representative to have input into the hiring of some faculty members in the economics department. The foundation says the goal of the gift is “to provide resources to faculty and students to facilitate a deeper understanding of the nature of free societies and the reasons why they foster the highest levels of well-being for the overwhelming majority of people.’’ Critics have accused the school of selling its academic freedom to the highest bidder.
With university budgets being cut around the country, colleges will increasingly be looking to private philanthropy to make up the difference. So it is worth examining the Koch gift and its