Served with Koch: NPR: Colleges Receive Gifts, But Are Strings Attached?

Colleges and universities love to have faculty positions endowed by benefactors and also accept money to create institutes, centers and such.  Is it crossing the line for the benefactor to set up rules for who gets to sit in the chair?  The Koch brothers think it's ok and so does Florida State but they did not ask the faculty.  This NPR story provides a good examination of the issues and what unfortunately may become a trend!
From the source -

Three years ago, the Charles Koch Charitable Foundation struck an agreement with Florida State to encourage the study of economic institutions and political economy.
The foundation, known for its links to conservative causes, gave the university $1.5 million to fund two faculty positions. David Rasmussen, dean of FSU's College of Social Sciences, says his school maintained control over who would teach, and what they taught.
...
But the grant created a special advisory board, chosen by the Koch Foundation, that has a role in choosing faculty. And that decision is leading to a world of controversy for the university.
FSU professors have assaulted the idea of giving donors any voice in choosing professors. Cary Nelson, president of the American Association of University Professors, says for years, corporations have been endowing chairs and splashing their names all over the ivory tower. As examples, he cites "The Taco Bell Distinguished Professor of Hotel and Restaurant Administration in Washington. The Lego Professor Learning and Research and the Chevron Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT."

The link also contains audio as well as more transcript -
Colleges Receive Gifts, But Are Strings Attached?



wi1848forward.wordpress.com - Same story w/o embedded audio

WI 1848 Forward: Served with #Koch : #NPR : #Colleges Receive Gifts, But Are Strings Attached? : #Education #47% #99%