Koch Brothers Buying Up Our Schools

Going largely unreported is the growing trend of right-wing millionaires and conservative businessmen buying up economic and business program at U.S. universities in a strategic effort to influence politicians and policy makers.

The economic situation brought about by Bush's failed policies has created a perfect storm for such efforts. Severe budget constraints and other problems at universities have allowed a small set of oligarchs to use school donations to interfere with academic integrity on campuses throughout the country. A group of hedge fund managers, working through the Manhattan Institute’s Veritas Fund, have created entire departments dedicated to advancing failed supply side ideas and climate skepticism. John Allison, the former CEO of BB&T Bank, a bailout recipient, has used his corporation’s money to force college campuses to adopt Ayn Rand readings into their programs.

But overall, the Koch brothers are still the dominate players when it comes to meddling with academic integrity.  Think Progress has reported specifically about the Koch brothers' takeover of the Florida State University's economics department (among many others). From those departments come economists, and among those economists are political appointees.  According to Think Progress:

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  (similar conditional agreements have been made with schools like Clemson and West Virginia University). 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.  One of the key candidates to replace Gary Locke as Commerce Secretary is none other than Tim Roemer, a former "distinguished" scholar at the Mercatus Center.

Details on other academic programs bought and paid for by Koch money:

West Virginia University: Koch funds an array of academic programs at West Virginia University, a public university. One Koch-funded academic at WVU, economics professor Russell Sobel, has written a book blasting regulations of all types. He even argues that less mine safety regulations will make coal miners more safe. A similar arrangement has been made with WVU as with FSU in accepting at least $480,000 from Koch.

Brown University: Amity Shales, a pop-conservative writer who argues that the New Deal made the Great Depression worse, an odd theory promoted by Charles Koch himself, has been a featured speaker at Koch-funded programsat Brown. Moreover, Koch’s donation of at least $419,254 to Brown has underwritten a number of research projects in the Economics and Political Science deparments, including a paper arguing that bank deregulation has helped the poor.

Troy University: The Charles Koch Foundation helped fund a gift of $3.6 million to establish the Center for Political Economy last year. The Center’s stated goal is to push back against the belief following the financial crisis that markets need regulation.  Currently, the Center’s only staffer, Professor Scott Beaulier, is a board member of the ExxonMobil-funded attack group, American Energy Alliance, and a former staffer for Koch’s think tank at George Mason.

Utah State University: The Charles Koch Foundation has given the school nearly $700,000 to hire five new faculty members, and establish a program for undergraduates to learn about Charles Koch’s management theories.  Charles Koch’s book, “The Science of Success” (a book Forbes mocked for proclaiming a “Marxist faith in ‘fixed laws’ that govern ‘human well-being’”) is part of the required reading list for the program.   Professor Randy Simmons, one of Koch's hand-picked professors, helps select students (who must provide information about their ideological interests when applying) for the Koch program. Simmons has also written a string of papers against environmental regulations.