This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The Charles Koch Foundation's recent multi-million dollar largesse in Utah should be met with resistance, rather than gratitude. Recordings and documents from Koch Foundation officials more than suffice to show that the purpose of their academic programs are meant to "leverage science and universities" for the "implementation of policy change."
Citizens of Utah can see a clear example of this. Koch's programming at Utah State University's Institute for Political Economy, and its private counterpart Strata, has led scholars to attack not just renewable energy, but Utah environmental groups like the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. This is the kind of work that Koch's political network, including fossil fuel interests like Koch Industries, would otherwise have to take on themselves. Creating new centers allows the donor to bypass normal faculty governance, and fully leverage their "donation."
Through their agreements with schools like USU, or the recently announced agreement with University of Utah, Koch's donor network continues to use the legitimacy of state institutions to pursue their agenda of privatization and corporate control over natural resources, land, public education and government. The new USU Center for Growth and Opportunity stands to weigh in on economic policy issues that impact corporate profits.
Having examined the latest contracts that the Koch Foundation has signed with USU and the U of U, it can be stated with confidence that the Koch Foundation retains control over the use of its money through the duration of the agreement. As is typical of Koch's academic contracts, instead of describing an irrevocable charitable donation, the Koch Foundation retains the sole right to withdraw their funding, as well as the ability to withhold annual renewal of funding for any part of the program.
Koch's programming in Utah not only requires that faculty activities comply with the donor's political objectives, but it also funds graduate fellowships. Most recently, at Florida State University, it was discovered that the fellows were screened for compliance, the donor had approval power over their dissertation topic and retained the right to withhold the renewal of fellowship funding.
These programs are designed to create a generation of citizens who support the political agenda of Koch's network. A memo from a Koch professor at FSU tells the exact terms "the Koch Foundation agenda is to expose students to free-market ideas, and to provide opportunities for students who want to study with faculty who share Koch's appreciation for markets and distrust of government. The proposal is, therefore, not to just give us money to hire anyone we want and fund any graduate student that we choose. There are constraints."
These "constraints" are poised to shape the future of Utah's political landscape.
Ralph Wilson is co-founder and senior researcher of UnKoch My Campus. Brad Asay is president of American Federation of Teachers Utah.