05-11-2011, 04:14 PM
Higher education, especially public ones, have been under great financial stress for decades now. Like the economy, it's gotten progressively more difficult. Balancing need versus principle is an ongoing concern.
Academic freedom has been compromised. The resulting fruit will be tainted, just as it is at heavily-influenced and financed Koch "think tanks" that have been inserted into supposedly academic institutions around the country.
That being said, I find it amusing in a macabre way that the Kochs are adamantly against regulation in business, but they want to tightly regulate a "donation" to an academic institution. In other words, the unregulated free market is for everybody but the Kochs.
I also wonder if we, the taxpayers, will have to foot the bill for a tax write-off in this transaction. It clearly is not "at arms length".
Academic freedom has been compromised. The resulting fruit will be tainted, just as it is at heavily-influenced and financed Koch "think tanks" that have been inserted into supposedly academic institutions around the country.
That being said, I find it amusing in a macabre way that the Kochs are adamantly against regulation in business, but they want to tightly regulate a "donation" to an academic institution. In other words, the unregulated free market is for everybody but the Kochs.
I also wonder if we, the taxpayers, will have to foot the bill for a tax write-off in this transaction. It clearly is not "at arms length".