Violations of Academic Freedom, Faculty Governance, and Academic Integrity

An analysis of the Charles Koch Foundation

UnKoch My Campus has collected examples of the Charles Koch Foundation exerting undue donor influence over academic and administrative decisions on campuses they fund.

The text below is separated into examples of specific kinds of influence.

Chapter 1 examines the main mechanisms of contractual influence as it is built into the Koch foundation's donor agreements.

Chapters 2-6 are examples of that influence, including donor influence over faculty responsibilities, including hiring, scholarly activities, and the creation of curriculum and academic programs. Donor influence is also seen in student activities, from student groups to graduate fellowships.

Other items of concern include conflicts of interest, threats, intimidation, deliberate misinformation, and bypassing faculty dissent. We also list several examples of inappropriate political activities of Koch funded faculty, some of which includes scientific misconduct, like failing to disclose funding sources.

First published June 2016, republished December 2018.