The evil eminence grise of anti-science and feral capitalism, Charles G. Koch, has managed to buy an entire university's integrity for the knock-down price of $1.5m. Compared to the larger sums Gaddafi laid out to buy business, his son's PhD and a good deal of credibility at the London School of Economics, it's a bargain.
Koch handed over the money with the proviso that his hand-selected advisory team could choose 2 candidates for employment: Florida State University therefore abandoned any academic integrity, and Koch got tame academics who are guaranteed never to challenge their sponsor's extremist ideas.
I'm all for it. I work in an impoverished institution and I'm on the latest in a series of temporary and insecure jobs. My fields are Welsh literature, 1918-1939 culture, political fiction and children's literature. If you've got £1m, I'll take it. I may wake up every morning with a screaming conscience, but doubtless the butler will soothe my furrowed brow. Your donation gets your books on my reading lists - leading to increased sales, positive reviews and academic credibility. Publishers, and Alan Apperley: get in touch!
My top compromised institutions (highlights only, the list is endless, and the Hegemon is involved in very murky dealings with oppressive regimes and our tax-avoiding Chancellor has been suspended from the House of Lords and thrown off the Privy Council for expenses corruption):
LSE: now a wholly-owned subisidiary of Libya.
Nottingham University - their International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility: funded by British American Tobacco.
Oxford University: the Said Business School is named after and funded by a major arms dealer with presumably remarkably few scruples given his involvement in the corrupt Al-Yamamah deal.
Durham: has signed a cosy 'memorandum of understanding' with those cuddly and doughty defenders of human rights, the Islamic Republic of Iran.
1 comment:
It is discouraging but disciplined and thoughtful minds are not good for business. And business seems to be the only thing that matters. We are all just grist for the mill.
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