For Sale to Highest Bidder: FSU

[Howey]

Koch Brothers invest in FSU

What better way is there to influence the economics of a state than to buy it?

...conservative billionaire who opposes government meddling in business has bought a rare commodity: the right to interfere in faculty hiring at a publicly funded university.
 
A foundation bankrolled by Libertarian businessman Charles G. Koch has pledged $1.5 million for positions in Florida State University's economics department. In return, his representatives get to screen and sign off on any hires for a new program promoting "political economy and free enterprise."
 
Traditionally, university donors have little official input into choosing the person who fills a chair they've funded. The power of university faculty and officials to choose professors without outside interference is considered a hallmark of academic freedom.
 
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.

[ekg]

The power of university faculty and officials to choose professors without outside interference is considered a hallmark of academic freedom.


goodbye freedom...

[44nutman]

This is unreal. This is a publicly funded university and I am pissed that my tax dollars are going to FSU. I am embarassed to have ever attended the university. Maybe the Cock brothers can write the curriculum, I can see everyone signing up for the class on how to buy a government one elected official at a time.

[ekg]

This is unreal. This is a publicly funded university and I am pissed that my tax dollars are going to FSU. I am embarassed to have ever attended the university. Maybe the Cock brothers can write the curriculum, I can see everyone signing up for the class on how to buy a government one elected official at a time.

do you know if this is something that's done in other countries?

here's something interesting from that article

The big exception has been George Mason University, a public university in Virginia which has received more than $30 million from Koch over the past 20 years. At George Mason, Koch's foundation has underwritten the Mercatus Center, whose faculty study "how institutions affect the freedom to prosper."

When President George W. Bush identified 23 regulations he wanted to eliminate, 14 had been initially suggested by Mercatus scholars. In a New Yorker profile of the Koch brothers in August, Rob Stein, a Democratic strategist, called Mercatus "ground zero for deregulation policy in Washington."

talk about the man in back pulling the strings..