Tom Steyer may be emerging as a counterforce to the Koch brothers, but billionaire influence in politics is just one more threat to our democracy.
The president of Wichita State University has decided that the bounds of the public-private Innovation Campus are really more a “state of mind,” opening up the rest of the publicly owned campus to private investment.
Harvard Kennedy School students are protesting the school’s acceptance of money from the Koch brothers. While the dean claims that the money comes with no strings, the Kochs’ history of promoting libertarian doctrine at other schools raises concerns.
The Koch Network goes beyond charter schools to advocate family-based customized learning. The concept, if fully implemented, threatens to harm the nation’s social fabric by displacing public schools and the common civic grounding they provide.
Social justice-oriented nonprofits are not the only groups looking to mobilize votes among voters who have traditionally been disenfranchised.
Knowing who is trying to influence public policy and how they organize their arguments is a critical skill for anyone who has an interest in good government.
When is accepting donations too expensive for arts charities? One arts critic posits that the Koch brothers’ anti-climate change agenda undermines the very human sustainability the arts represent.
There is evidence that a few private foundations are “weaponizing philanthropy for their own private political purposes.”
College students concerned about the effects of donations on curriculum challenge donor and foundation privacy rights.
Populist sentiment is running high, as evidenced by both the Trump and Sanders 2016 presidential campaigns. Charles Koch said, “We have a tremendous danger because we can go the authoritarian route—or we can move toward a free and open society.”
