"Opinion: Corporations tend to corrupt higher education"

[applegrove]

Opinion: Corporations tend to corrupt higher education

by Mr. Fini at the Daily Reveille

http://www.lsureveille.com/opinion/opinion-corporations-tend-to-corrupt-higher-education/article_bd376140-14f7-11e3-9f4f-001a4bcf6878.html

"SNIP..............................


For many years, University donors had little control over the hiring process of professors, but that has changed. Now companies and billionaires can use their donations as leverage in order to shape public education.

This mixing of big business and education has led the country to take a rightward shift in recent economic policies. For example, the Koch Brothers, libertarian billionaires who financed the Tea Party Movement, now have 54 members in Congress. They also have donated more than $150 million to universities, including LSU.

In doing so, the Koch Brothers structured the grants with strings attached, which destroys the spirit and autonomy of universities and academia. One example occurred in 2010, when Charles Koch pledged $1.5 million to Florida State

University. The conditions included that Koch’s representatives get to have a say in the hiring of professors. With this level of control from outside donors, academic freedom is under threat ironically from a libertarian billionaire.




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[Uncle Joe]

1. Absolutely.

Thanks for the thread, applegrove.

[LWolf]

2. They corrupt lower education, as well. nt

[devils chaplain]

3. Corporations tend to corrupt. N/T

[zipplewrath]

4. The future may get interesting

On line post secondary schooling is growing and expanding. It really isn't that much of a stretch to think that corporations, especially large ones (Apple, Microsoft, Lockheed, GM, Bank of America, etc.) could generate their own "curriculums". They could then place these "courses" on line and demand that prospective employees "graduate" from their "school" to be considered for a position. I'm sure there are more than a few public, private, and for profit universities that would be willing to create and manage these "schools" for them. And they wouldn't have to be anywhere near "4 year" educations. Conversely, one could find themselves so specialized in their education that they could be employed in very few other places.

Not sure there is much that can be done about it. Short of treating education like the printing of money (and saying that the government controls it) it would be almost impossible to stop.

[liberal_at_heart]

5. I can't believe we are allowing this to happen.