Other Universities Turning Down Koch Donations [Listen]

As many of you know Montana State University recently rejected a research center to be sponsored by the Koch Brothers. They did however accept a $5.7 million research grant.

On this week’s Open for Business Tom and Shane were joined by Daniele Struppa who is the president of Chapman University in Southern California.

He wrote a recent article in the Wall Street Journal about his university asking that he reject a donation to that school from the Koch Brothers.

The Koch’s were planning to finance one third of a project for the Chapman campus.

Sturppa’s Wall Street article said in part, “As president, I am being asked to turn down donations from the dreaded Koch brothers, even when, as in this case, the proposal for funding was inspired, developed and fully fleshed out by my faculty, in the most important exercise of their own academic freedom. The demand that research funding be declined because of its origin poses a grave threat to academic freedom.”

I fully agreed with President Struppa and said as much in my three recent blogs on this topic.

http://kmmsam.com/an-msu-building-by-any-other-name/

http://kmmsam.com/opinion-im-done-with-montana-state-university/

http://kmmsam.com/montana-state-university-still-has-a-koch-problem/

Listen to our interview about this topic and the dangers of curtailing academic freedom because you object to the politics of those who have the means to finance the very academic freedom to which you vocally espouse.

What are your thoughts?