Koch role in hiring decisions at Florida State University raise ethical s questions

[Ichingcarpenter]

A 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.




Most universities, including the University of Florida, have policies that strictly limit donors' influence over the use of their gifts. Yale University once returned $20 million when the donor demanded veto power over appointments, saying such control was "unheard of."
Jennifer Washburn, who has reviewed dozens of contracts between universities and donors, called the Koch agreement with FSU "truly shocking."


http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/article1168680.ece



THESE BASTARD BROTHERS ARE EVERYWHERE!!!!!!

[socialist_n_TN]

1. A post I saw here says it all........

It went something like this (paraphrasing), Something's wrong when you've got so much money that the only thing left to buy is your government.

I guess we can add public education too.

[tblue37]

8. That was aquart's post. I have also taken to quoting him. nt

[socialist_n_TN]

9. Thanks. I get so many good quotes and paraphrases

from here that I can't even keep up. Luckily, nobody seems to mind if we all use them in common. Although, I do like to give credit where credit is due if I or someone else remembers the author. :)

[Lindsay]

2. Money supercedes everything these days,

especially ethics.

:-(

[WinkyDink]

3. Not in FLORIDA!

[jpak]

4. Floriduh - yup

and I feel bad for all the good people in FL that have to put up with this nonsense

yup

[Warpy]

5. It's amazing that all the strands in the spider web

that we track down to their source lead to either one or both of the Koch brothers as the spiders.

I have to think there are others out there, spinning other webs with the same purpose. If someone gets really serious about following all the money and identifying them all, perhaps we will finally see our way clear to do something about them.

[Ichingcarpenter]

6. I'm willing to bet the whole $20 million was a total tax right off

I bet they paid no taxes last year either.

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. I don't normally go out of my way to repeat a comment I may have written

in a duplicate topic, but I think this time it's warranted:

My concern is, that he wants to use the Economic Department to use tainted math to convince students to push Republican policies a la Bell Curve. Where, in the Bell Curve, they tried to claim that blacks were not intelligent enough as a group to justify public money on social head start programs, with the Economics department they will try to prove that we cannot financially afford to maintain the number of illegal Latinos who come to this country, thus, they should revoke the citizenship of anchor babies who are of Latino descent. Yes, they were specific.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4845826&mesg_id=4845865

[eppur_se_muova]

10. Utterly unconscionable! At a taxpayer-funded university, it should be illegal.

I would think a good lawyer could find an argument to show that this "deal" violates the university's charter.

[PA Democrat]

11. Oh gee, I can't imagine what types of professors they will hire.

Surely, not quacks supporting more "free market" BS which has transformed our democracy into an oligarchy. I'm sure those stooges professors they hire would NEVER advocate deregulation, elimination of inheritance taxes, elimination of the social safety net. No. No. The Koch brothers are moral people. They throw a few pennies at charity every so often. There is nothing wrong with needing MORE billions of dollars in personal income every year. They are gods who know exactly how the entire country's wealth should be divided, how resources should be allocated. They need it all, and will give the rest of us just enough to scrape by if we are lucky and obedient. :puke:

The Koch brothers are evil and vile.

[Hubert Flottz]

12. KochRoach Alert...

Deport these democracy hating bastards.