College campuses are pushing Koch propaganda and you might not even know it. Case in point: A new study out of Arizona State University says the state could phase out the personal income tax in six to eight years, which would exempt tycoons like the Kochs from paying their fair share. What the study doesn’t say is that the Koch brothers funded ASU’s Center for the Study of Economic Liberty to the tune of $3.5 million, which turned around and produced the very report that would mean enormous gains for billionaires like the Kochs.
Predictably, Arizona Governor — and Koch pawn — Doug Ducey is backing the proposal. Prior to his election, Governor Ducey attended a Koch summit where he was caught professing his love for the billionaire brothers and groveling for Koch funds.
But that’s not all.
ASU also accepted more than $1 million in Koch cash to pay for a history professor’s position. According to an op-ed in the Arizona Republic, “The job description read like propaganda position meant to service the agenda of a couple of unnamed billionaires.”
Hundreds of universities big and small, from the state of Florida up to Tennessee, Kentucky, and beyond, are accepting Koch cash. Koch donations are actually not donations at all — but rather another medium to disseminate their message. Money from the Kochs comes with countless strings attached and that may be in the form of ideological requirements of the professors, or the production of works that back policies which increase Koch profit margins.
But students are catching on: across the country they are demanding that their universities “Unkoch My Campus.” The campaign tries to shed light on how much power the Koch brothers wield over academic decision-making.
The Kochs’ insidious infiltration of institutions that pledge to be unbiased hallmarks of academic integrity is unnerving. From loading up universities with their tainted donations to spending nearly $900 million this election to try to buy the White House — the Kochs continue to push their propaganda.