PRESS
2022
The Richest People You've Never Heard of are Holding Us Back from Climate Action
Operation Climate Podcast
August 30, 2022
“There are 2 men CONTROLLING YOUR LIFE. No, not Harry Styles or Timothee Chalamet. They’re actually much older (and actually one of them’s dead). They are the Koch brothers – Charles and David Koch. The Koch brothers are best known for their political activities and their control of Koch Industries, the 2nd largest privately owned company in the United States. Koch Industries is a huge conglomerate that owns a bunch of companies – they do everything from producing military equipment to oil & gas pipelines to spandex.
But probably what the Koch brothers are most controversial for is their involvement in US politics. They have a history of giving large sums of money to political campaigns and organizations that support their agenda, which is often libertarian and/or conservative.”
Fossil Fuel Companies Are Not the Only Funders of Climate Denial at Universities
Power Shift Network
Katarina Sousa & Jake Lowe, April 26, 2022
“If you are a college student, begin researching fossil fuel funding of your university, identify like-minded students and faculty, and launch a campaign of your own. Most importantly, remember that you are part of a global movement. Student climate activists from around the world are here to support you. The climate crisis is an intersectional issue. The solution must be, too.”
Anti-CRT Movement Actually an Orchestrated Product of a Coordinated Dark Money Campaign
Blue Virginia
Tempestt Tuggle, March 28, 2022
"As midterm elections loom in the distance, it pays to look at who is pushing the anti-CRT narrative and what the reality actually is. Instead of a homegrown grassroots endeavor, we’re seeing something much more manufactured that is creating divisiveness and fertile ground for a certain agenda –one that doesn’t have the interests of the common good at its core.”
Fossil Fuel Divestment Prompts Backlash
The Progressive
Jasmine Banks, February 21, 2022
"College students have been some of Charles Koch’s fiercest opponents. Research and action by UnKoch My Campus, our network of student organizers, has been critical at changing the national narrative about the Koch’s role in the so-called critical race theory debate at public schools and prompting YouTube and Google to ban ads on climate disinformation.
It’s student activists who are scaring the fossil fuel industry. And it should stay scared. That’s exactly what we need to build a more sustainable future.”
Exposing the Right-Wing & Corporate Takeover of Education & Democracy - Jasmine Banks
Doin’ The Work Podcast
February 14, 2022
Brown University Faculty Reject Push for Koch-Funded Scholarship
Common Dreams
Kenny Stancil, February 2, 2022
"We know that the Koch network has been infiltrating university programs for decades, using their donations to buy influence over research in order to amplify approaches to public policy that support their regressive legislative goals at the state and federal levels," UnKoch My Campus said in a statement this week.
"Oftentimes these policy goals seek to halt action on climate change, privatize public goods and services, and strip healthcare and other rights from our nation's workers," added the group, which is supporting SAKI's campaign against Koch influence at Brown. "Not only is academic freedom undermined, but it allows the Koch network to leverage a school's prestigious reputation and legacy in order to launder their impact on our democracy, climate, and economy."
GW should combat misinformation about critical race theory
GW Hatchet
Karina Ochoa Berkely, January 19, 2022
"The attack on critical race theory is a part of a larger effort to defund and restrict access to education, an attack funded in large part by elite economic interests. Koch Industries, the same fossil fuel interest that donates millions of dollars to the RSC, also invests millions of dollars into conservative think tanks – with the expectation that they will produce content about critical race theory designed to create confusion, distrust and anger. One Koch think tank author, for example, absurdly argued that the Stoneman Douglas shooting in 2018 was a result of critical race theory curricula at the high school."
Right-Wingers Are Pushing to Take Over School Boards in Leadup to Midterms
Truthout
Eleanor Bader, January 16, 2022
“‘The moral panic we are seeing over ‘CRT’ was created by a group of think tanks that are funded by Koch Industries,’ Jasmine Banks, executive director of UnKoch my Campus, told Truthout. ‘The Koch network has always made undercutting public education part of their plan. During the Obama administration, they opposed social and emotional learning programs, and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.’
Now, she says, the focus is CRT, or what the right mistakenly believes to be CRT.”
2021
Elite schools must quit koch money
The Progressive
Jasmine Banks, December 1, 2021
“Duke, Harvard and other universities that advocate for climate justice are also still taking money from the climate change-denying Koch network and their right-wing allies. Some have followed their acceptance of these donations with conspicuous support for academics or research that support Koch’s political views. To truly live up to their word, these universities need to stop giving academic legitimacy to fossil fuel apologists.”
If You Care About the Climate, Pay Attention to Koch Cash
The Nation
Jake Lowe, November 17, 2021
“For 11 years, the RSC has successfully undermined federal environmental regulations, cultivated a hub of deregulatory soft power, and seen its members rise to influential regulatory positions. As a GWU student who has been researching the RSC for the better part of a year, I am here to tell you that it is so much more than just a campus issue. If you have a stake in US climate policy, pay attention to the RSC.”
Roland Martin Unfiltered
November 2, 2021
Open Letter to Miguel Cardona on Why Returning to Teaching in Higher Ed Alarms Me
AAUP Academe
Danielle Slaughter, October 26, 2021
“Organizations like Turning Point USA—and their Professor Watchlist project—are able to find support for their work because of the dark money in our education system. They receive donations from the Koch network and other right-wing donors, but their nonprofit status means that they don’t have to disclose who finances their organization. It allows dark-money donors to support harmful organizations without anyone knowing it’s them. Secretary Cardona, I’m writing to ask you to address the proliferation of dark money in our education system. It’s time for you to have the Department of Education do a thorough audit of the ways in which the Koch network has wormed its way into our education system both on the collegiate level and in the K–12 sector.”
Sowing the Seeds of White Supremacy Through Education
Political Research Associates
Jasmine Banks, October 21, 2021
“Since its conception, the Koch network has worked to undermine the rights and liberties of non-white demographics, starting with an anti-civil rights crusade that challenged Brown v. Board of Education. The Koch network has made no secret about how it views public education as a critical arena for influencing U.S. policy and culture. Through a variety of tactics—including charter schools and vouchers; influence on curriculum, textbooks, and trainings; and using state politicians to engage in culture war against progressive ideas—they’re attempting to reshape education to ensure the spread of their regressive ideas.”
Jasmine Banks of UnKoch My Campus is Unafraid
Let’s Hear It! Podcast
October 15, 2021
Jasmine Banks is unafraid. As the Executive Director of UnKoch My Campus, she is fighting to preserve democracy and protect higher education from undue corporate donor influence. She and her colleagues are taking on a nationwide network of think tanks, "action" groups, and academics funded by Koch Industries and its many subsidiaries. And you think your day job is challenging.
KOCH BLOCK MY CAMPUS (FT. JAMES L. TURK & JASMINE BANKS)
Darts & Letters Podcast
October 15, 2021
Right wing money in academia is pervasive and influential. Libertarian-minded billionaires like the Kochs and their partners have funded scholars and think tanks across the US, and similar things go on in Canada too. The money shows us that the right spends it because they care about education.
Charles Koch’s Undue Influence on College Campuses: An Interview with Jasmine Banks
Freedom of Mind
October 14, 2021
For the past four years, Jasmine Banks has worked as the Executive Director of the non-profit project, UnKoch My Campus. The goal of the group is to intervene in the political strategy of Koch and his dark money network. As Executive Director, Banks has worked to expose the political damage caused by Koch and the nefarious nationwide network of think tanks, action groups, and academics that he funds.
Reclaiming Higher Education from Corporate Capture” with Jasmine Banks, UnKoch My Campus, and Prof. Sharon Kirsch
FutureU
October 7, 2021
Politically motivated donors are exerting undue influence on K-12 and higher education. UnKochMyCampus is responding by seeking to protect higher education from actors whose expressed intent is to place private interests over the common good.
How to unkoch a campus
In This Climate Podcast
September 9, 2021
Did you know that a Koch-funded university think tank actually justified inaction on climate change by arguing that smog serves as a skin-cancer-reducing sunblock?
In this co-produced episode, the UnKoch My Campus team tells the story of working alongside students at George Washington University to push their school administration to address the Regulatory Studies Center, which has been linked to climate disinformation and deregulation — while the university attempts to tout a climate justice initiative agenda.
The Koch Network is Undoing Public Education as We Know it
Arizona Republic
Jasmine Banks & Sharon Kirsch, August 27, 2021
“For many in the K-12 sphere, particularly in Arizona, dealing with a pandemic is just one more challenge.
Public education advocates continue a decades-long battle with a “dark money” network that influences our state legislators, contributes to the destabilization of public school funding, continues to proliferate the damaging school voucher system it created and attempts to capture the curriculum taught to our students.
The Koch network’s mission to infiltrate public education across the country for their own benefit began in earnest in Arizona in the mid-1990s, showing what happens when we capitulate to the harmful impacts of their influence.”
The Radical Capitalist Behind the Critical Race Theory Furor
The Nation
Jasmine Banks, August 13, 2021
"As the head of UnKoch My Campus, I have spent years working to research and expose the insidious nationwide network of think tanks, action groups, and academics funded by the Kochs. While the network is often diffuse and hard to track, all of its branches purport to be dedicated to supporting free market capitalism.
But I have always known, as a Black woman, that the Koch brothers’ brand of radical capitalism relies on maintaining a system of white supremacy. That reality has rarely been as clear as now, when the Koch network is essentially working to manufacture a crisis to prove its case for privatizing education.”
Facebook Live with Badass Teachers
Badass Teachers Association
Jasmine Banks, August 11, 2021
A Candidate for Falls Church School Board Has Connections to the Koch Network. Here’s Why You Should Be Worried.
Blue Virginia
Cassidy Pollard, July 15, 2021
"After months of fear-mongering to create a new moral panic around “Critical Race Theory” being taught in schools, as well as targeting trans students throughout the country, the Koch network’s real agenda with regards to our public schools is beginning to come into focus. Make no mistake, the recent uproar around “Critical Race Theory” and “protecting the sanctity of sports” by attacking transgender students is not an organic movement driven by concerned parents, as some on the right would have you believe. Instead, it’s a calculated and manufactured tactic by Charles Koch’s political network to undermine faith in our public schools.”
Passing The Mic
The New Yorker
Bill McKibben, June 9, 2021
"Many people might say, ‘It’s their money, they can do what they want with it.’ How do you explain to them why you think it’s dangerous?
'The money itself isn’t dangerous—it’s the strings and conditions attached to it where we start to see the harm. When donations dictate what curriculum or textbooks are being taught, what faculty is hired or fired, or exert influence over school fellowships, then it becomes a matter of academic freedom.'"
Power Up Your Giving With Real Power To Community With Anthony Diaz, Jasmine Banks, and Dany Sigwalt (Part 1)
Do Your Good Podcast
May 31, 2021
UNKOCH THE WORLD
Redacted Tonight
Lee Camp, May 28, 2021
A New Hire, a Koch Grant, and a Department in Crisis
Chronicle of Higher Ed
Nell Gluckman, May 25, 2021
“It’s a tale of ‘persistent corruption.’ Adding to the discordance was the source of the grant, an increasingly ubiquitous research funder that has drawn sharp criticism on other campuses. It was the Charles Koch Foundation.”
Do donors have too much influence over universities?
University World News
Nathan Greenfield, April 25, 2021
“‘We understand that wealthy folk, billionaires in particular, have always used their wealth to leverage influence,’ Jasmine Banks, executive director of the public interest research non-profit UnKoch My Campus, told University World News.
’Charles Koch and his donor network are, however, unmatched in the level of their impact and influence that is used to capture our common good institutions such as universities.’”
Op/Ed: Koch-funded climate denial at George Washington University must end now!
The Bulletin
Jasmine Banks & Sophia Halloran, March 5, 2021
"We know that divesting from fossil fuels and reckoning with the Regulatory Studies Center alone will not stop the climate crisis, and that no action can end the crisis that has already started. We see ending the corrupting influence of fossil fuel money in higher education as our part to play as students and organizers in the fight for a rapid, just transition to a clean energy future. We are continuing the tradition of George Washington students and community members demanding that the university divest from injustice, and we hope to also create a tradition of shared governance, in which students get a say in what happens at their university."
How the riot and the HR 1 debate are fueling the crusade against dark money
The Fulcrum
Jasmine Banks, March 1, 2021
"...It's no surprise that HR 1 is truly the worst nightmare for the Koch network and others of their ilk. If passed, it would require secret organizations that spend money in elections to disclose their donors. It would also create a small, donor-focused public financing matching system so candidates for Congress would no longer be so reliant on big-money donors to fund their campaigns and set their priorities — meaning that it would be just that much harder for billionaires like Charles Koch to buy his way into the House and Senate."
The Two Faces Of Charles Koch
Republic Report
Jasmine Banks, February 10, 2021
“…It’s hard to believe Koch at his word. Especially when his actions show that he and his network continue to bankroll the very people and organizations he claims to be distancing from. And even the platitudes being expressed are lukewarm at best. Encouraging Congress to confirm Biden isn’t some groundbreaking statement putting Koch out on any limb. Biden won, regardless of the false claims of election fraud Trump and his acolytes continue to try and push. Pushing for Biden’s certification and promising to consider future funding is the safe bet, not a bold move the way some are trying to spin it.
What would be a true change of character would be to call out the politicians, including Trump, who promoted and laid the groundwork for what happened at the Capitol. It would be a true apology to not only condemn these people but pull the money that has supported them and their actions for all of these decades. ”
Op-ed: It’s time to UnKoch Tufts University
Tufts Daily
Nathan Foster, Amanda Westlake, Julia Silberman, February 3, 2021
“The Center for State Policy Analysis is not capable of producing the kind of objective analysis that it claims to provide. Defenders of the center may point to academic freedom, but the greater threat to academic freedom is the Koch network’s well-documented history of suppressing opposing viewpoints, influencing hiring decisions and even dictating research outcomes.
Far from an objective resource, cSPA is the Koch network’s latest attempt to gain a foothold in Massachusetts politics. Koch network activities are well-known and shouldn’t be given the benefit of the doubt. In 2016, Suffolk University cut ties with the Beacon Hill Institute. Tufts should do the same with cSPA.”
Betsy DeVos’s Resignation Came Four Years Too Late
Truthout
Jasmine Banks, January 13, 2021
“Betsy DeVos is proof positive of what happens when a Koch network operative is placed in a position of power in any of our institutions. Whether in higher education, our judiciary, or federal leadership, the material outcomes are often the same: destabilization, disinformation, and increased corporatization and privatization.
While the masses suffer amid a pandemic, climate disaster, systemic racism, economic injustice, and more, the Koch network has continued their strategy to radically transform our democracy by capturing institutions of education and our federal government.”
Democracy Organizations Call for Making Coup Donors Accountable
Nonprofit Quarterly
Sofia Jarrin, January 12, 2021
“UnKoch My Campus, a nonprofit committed to preserving democracy in higher education, has also launched a petition calling US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to hold the Koch network directly accountable for bankrolling and promoting these politicians.
‘For years the Koch network and its vast coffers have been connected with misinformation campaigns—whether it be climate or COVID-19 related, white supremacy, and much more,’ reads their petition. Indeed, the Koch brother’s payouts for climate change denialism have been traced back to 1991.”
2020
Advancing Racial Justice Means Ending Fossil Fuel Reliance
DAME
Jasmine Banks & Jennie C. Stephens, December 14, 2020
“Links between structural racism, racial capitalism, and fossil fuel interests may not be obvious to all, but it is time to connect the dots. To advance racial justice in the United States and begin to heal the wounds of centuries of racism, the destructive power of the Koch network of fossil fuel interests must be stopped.”
We Need to Hear More Than Platitudes From Charles Koch
The Chronicle of Philanthropy
Jasmine Banks, December 1, 2020
“Instead of words with no weight behind them, I want to know what actions Koch will take to make up for the irreparable damage caused by the millions he has funneled into campus centers that produce climate misinformation or to organizations that use faulty science to justify reopening businesses and schools in the face of worsening Covid-19 rates.”
Right-Wing Orgs Are Enlisting Students in Their War Against Campus Progressives
Truthout
Eleanor Bader, December 1, 2020
“‘The right wing has targeted people who are pushing economic justice, environmental justice and racial justice, and any professor who explicitly supports Black communities or other communities of color can get the right’s attention,’ said Jasmine Banks, executive director of UnKoch My Campus, an organization promoting fiscal transparency and democracy on campus. ‘Their tactics aim to make it risky to promote equity and inclusion.’”
Review: Diversifying Power: Why We Need Antiracist, Feminist Leadership on Climate and Energy
Resilience
Randy Hayes, November 3, 2020
“UnKoch My Campus now supports efforts to resist corporate-backed white supremacy on campuses, corporate influence on K-12 education, and corporate efforts to influence the courts and judicial decisions. Table 2.3 ‘Grounding beliefs for UnKoch My Campus’ is a telling statement of the organization’s core principles. At the helm, executive director Jasmine Banks provides a bold example of diverse leadership taking on and resisting the polluter elite.”
Faculty and Alumni Demand that University of Arizona Kick Koch Money Off Campus
DeSmog Blog
Tom Perrett, October 31, 2020
“During a webinar to support the Day of Action, Alex Hertel-Fernandez, author of State Capture: How Conservative Activists, Big Businesses, and Wealthy Donors Reshaped the American States—and the Nation, spoke about the broader state-wide implications of the Koch influence in Arizona. Hertel-Fernandez, who is also an Assistant Professor in Columbia University's School of International and Public Health, outlined the strategies employed by legislative councils and advocacy groups to influence policy making within Arizona.”
For DeVos, the Pandemic Is Another Opportunity for Profit
The Nation
Jasmine Banks, October 30, 2020
“In one of the more politically divisive moments of my lifetime, DeVos’s failures to address the real needs of families and teachers appears to be creating a larger divide between the haves and have-nots. But it’s more than that: At a time when those who can afford safety are grabbing it at the expense of others, the wealthy elite are the real winners.”
Colleges Pander to Trump in Effort to Stifle Campus Organizing
Truthout
Eleanor Bader, October 11, 2020
"'Using COVID-19 transmission risks to squash demonstration and campus free speech, while still demanding students return to group housing and packed classrooms, is dishonest,' says Jasmine Banks, Director of UnKoch My Campus, a national organization working to limit the impact of right-wing funders on curricula and campus life. 'This is just the latest tactic to subvert accountability and governance at all costs.'"
UnKoch Everything: Tactical Lessons Toward Structural Transformation
The Forge
Jasmine Banks, October 5, 2020
“The Koch brothers are not infiltrating institutions of higher education. To the contrary, these institutions are functioning exactly how their architects intended: as vehicles for reproducing racial, class, and gender power. ‘UnKoching’ a college or university campus remained a valuable organizing tool. But to truly ‘unKoch’ the academy, we needed to challenge entrenched gender, class, and racial inequities on campus and open up space for reimagining institutions of higher education. ”
Koch-Funded Free Speech “Crisis” Has Racist Consequences, But You Can Fight Back
Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy
Jasmine Banks, September 22, 2020
“Not only is the dark money funded astroturfed “Campus Free Speech Movement” propagating white supremacy ideals by protecting hate speech and calling it free speech, it is yet another manifestation of a structurally racist policy that criminalizes Black and non-Black students and faculty. At a time when more and more students of color are fighting for their right to access higher education, these bills take away the agency of the most marginalized students to organize for their right to achieve that education free from cultural and direct violence. ”
Episode #146: UnKoching College Campuses with Jasmine Banks
A Different Lens, Hampton Institute
Devon Bowers, September 15, 2020
A National Call to Remove Cops and Kochs from College Campuses
The Progressive
Eleanor Bader, September 14, 2020
“Jasmine Banks, UnKoch’s executive director, admits that, though the connection between donor transparency and campus policing may seem tenuous, there is a direct pipeline between the Koch network’s promotion of ‘public safety’ through increased community surveillance—tracking devices, cameras, and other electronic monitors—and their efforts to promote limited government, personal responsibility, and unregulated capitalist expansion.
‘After the police killings of so many Black people this summer, the movement for Black lives demanded the removal of police from schools—elementary through university,’ Banks explains. ‘Since we are committed to anti-racist action, we knew immediately that creating a digital campaign and helping students with political education, outreach to media, and putting a campaign together was a natural fit with our other work.’”
How Charles Koch Is Buying Credibility With Academic Investments
DeSmog Blog
Tom Perrett, September 12, 2020
“According to Samantha Parsons of UnKoch My Campus, a group working to remove the Koch influence in higher education, there are at least 40 centers at prominent American colleges and universities that are funded directly by the Koch donor network.”
#DefundPolice in HigherEd: An hour w/ @UnKochCampus ED, Jasmine Banks!
The Katie Speak Show
Katie Klabusich, September 11, 2020
Episode 4: Jasmine and Higher Education as a Political Battleground
The Feminist Agenda
Veronica Arreola, July 30, 2020
Toward a praxis of the UnKoch: communication and Western knowledge
Communication Education
Armond R. Towns, Volume 69, 2020 - Issue 3
"There are few organizations that have made better connections between racism, the climate crisis, higher education institutions, and wealthy donors than UnKoch My Campus. As an organization, UnKoch My Campus seeks to protect U.S. institutions of higher education from undue private influence, of which the Koch brothers are a chief example, but far from the only example.”
Blueprints for protecting academic freedom from dark money donations
Communication Education
Jasmine Banks, Volume 69, 2020 - Issue 3
“The loss of state support of higher education is not by happenstance: it is a coordinated campaign to make institutions vulnerable to manipulation and undue influence. Universities must make transparent where their donor money comes from and what influence is attached to it. They must also disaffiliate with anyone who offers money in a pay-for-play manner that can impact the integrity of education.”
Getting Cops Out of Schools Is the Aim of the Divest From Police Toolkit
Teen Vogue
Lexi McMenamin, June 29, 2020
“UnKoch Executive Director Jasmine Banks tells Teen Vogue that examining university budgets empowers you to ask more questions and make demands founded on the language colleges and universities speak: money.
‘Using your tuition and the fact that you are paying for a certain kind of experience, [a] certain kind of product, you can turn the whole capitalist analysis on its head as the consumer and say, Hey, I demand more justice from this experience,’ she says.”
Students and Staff Oppose COVID-Inspired Disaster Capitalism on US Campuses
Truthout
Eleanor Bader, June 8, 2020
“‘The rise of disaster capitalism is not new. The Koch network has been trying to destabilize public education for years,’ Banks told Truthout. ‘They’re using COVID-19 to propagate the idea that online and privatized education are timely, that distance learning through private companies is the best way to educate students. This is the perfect moment for higher ed to look at itself, see how it has been infiltrated, and make education benefit the common good, creating a safe and supportive environment in which to learn and study.’”
Where Do Protections Start and Our Rights End When it Comes to the Government and COVID-19?
Democracy Wire
Jasmine Banks, May 27, 2020
“If this crisis has shown us anything, it’s that we, the global community, have to place people over profits and disrupt the agenda of corporations because our government certainly isn’t doing it. Now is not the time to cower in the corner, but to be bold and speak out against basic rights being trampled. If we allow the yard line to be moved when it comes to our rights now, we may never recover.”
College Faculty Are Speaking Out Against Billionaire Donors
The Progressive
Eleanor J. Bader, May 11, 2020
“Although his actual net worth is unknown, Sinquefield’s willingness to spend money on issues and organizations he believes in, has given him a massive amount of clout. The reason is simple: UnKoch researchers found that since the 2008 recession, federal grants to two- and four-year colleges have been slashed by more than $7 billion, leading to massive shortfalls and pushing colleges to court wealthy donors.”
George Mason professor sues after sanctions for sex talk
Associated Press
Matthew Barakat, May 1, 2020
“Another favorite policy point for Koch is free speech and civic discourse, like the $1.1 million provided by the foundation to Kashdan’s lab last year. She said the Koch Foundation and other conservatives are primarily concerned about left-wing protesters who disrupt speeches from right-wing provocateurs.
The Koch free-speech movement, ‘is focused on punishing college students who stand up to hate speech,’ Parsons said.
Claims of 445% rise in Australian green tape based on 'lazy' and 'flawed' analysis
The Guardian
Graham Readfearn, April 30, 2020
“Samantha Parsons, director of campaigns at UnKoch My Campus, told Guardian Australia: ‘The only difference between the Mercatus Center and another industry-funded think-tank is the fact that GMU allows the Center to use its name and office space to brand itself as an academic program, and that’s exactly what UnKoch is fighting.’”
Tainted Philanthropy in Higher Education
Pro Market
Samantha Parsons, Dave Rapach, & Jasmine Banks, April 17, 2020
“By accepting financial donations from individuals and companies that have engaged in unethical behavior, our institutions of higher education implicitly condone such behavior, thereby sending a message that it is acceptable to compromise one’s ethical standards for money.”
The Koch machine is taking over college campuses, but one group is determined to stop them
Daily Kos
Vince Flango, April 5, 2020
“Although UnKoch My Campus and their partners have made a difference and can claim successes, the fight is far from over. Professors say the Koch Foundation still exerts unethical and undue pressure, yet no longer spell it out in their agreements. Now it’s a ‘wink and handshake,’ according to Chapman University professor Daniel Kovenock. Arizona State professor Mathew Garcia said he was even told by a university dean that they will ‘never hire anyone that Koch doesn’t approve.’”
Koch Foundation Criticizes Turning Point USA Even as Koch Network Funds the Group
PR Watch
Alex Kotch, April 1, 2020
“‘The Koch Foundation's statement against faculty harassment is hypocritical and insincere,’ Samantha Parsons, director of campaigns for activist group UnKoch My Campus, told the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). "The Koch network is funding media outlets like Campus Reform and The College Fix, which directly attack scholars that are critical of free-market capitalism and white supremacy. Some of the professors covered by these donor-funded stories have received death threats or been forced to leave their institutions."
The Heights In Depth: Boston College and the Koch Foundation
The Heights
March 11, 2020
Videos used by schools question minimum wage, climate change
AP News
Matthew Barakat, February 18, 2020
“Samantha Parsons, who works for UnKoch My Campus, said Izzit’s work fits with the agenda of the Charles Koch Foundation, which has given hundreds of millions of dollars to colleges in recent years to bolster what Parsons and others have said is an effort to promote right-wing ideology on campuses.
She said Izzit, like the Kochs, uses words like ‘liberty’ and ‘freedom’ to mask its right-wing agenda.”
2019
High-Dollar Donors Remain “Big Men on Campus,” Says Chronicle of Education
Non Profit Quarterly
Martin Levine, December 20, 2019
“This week, we may have learned who the anonymous donor might have been and about the ongoing ability of that donor to influence the university’s operations. Based on documents obtained from the university, Allison Pienta, a lawyer working for the nonprofit UnKoch My Campus, identified the $20 million donor as Barre Seid, a Chicago billionaire industrialist with strong conservative beliefs.”
To Court a Secretive Donor, Law Deans at George Mason Blasted Climate Scientists and Their Own Accreditor
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Jack Stripling & Nell Gluckman, December 18, 2019
Education, Civil Rights Groups Protest ALEC Summit in Scottsdale
Phoenix News Times
Elizabeth Whitman, December 5, 2019
“Samantha Parsons, with Unkoch My Campus, which works with Kochs Off Campus!, said that the protest was the perfect place for people and groups with the shared goal of pushing back against corporate money in policies to meet and start building a coalition.”
Degrees of Harm: Jasmine Banks Wants to Get Dark Money Out of Higher Education
Bitch Magazine
Andi Zeisler, December 3, 2019
“UnKoch is a part of that conversation because we are the connecting piece between the need for reform in higher education vs. the need for harm reduction. We are saying we know that all colleges and universities should be free, that no one should have to go into debt for an education, and that universities are a part of the foundation of democracy. But in the meantime, until we transform [higher education], we’re not going to let it be infiltrated and [further] corrupted by people who are interested in using it for nefarious ends.”
Boston College students and faculty push to reject Koch funding — and Koch values
Religion News Service
Aysha Khan, November 19, 2019
“Students and faculty at Boston College, Saint Louis University and Santa Clara University have all connected with the national nonprofit UnKoch My Campus to push their schools to reject Koch money. ‘Students, faculty and community stakeholders across the United States are activating against undue donor influence,’ said Jasmine Banks, executive director of UnKoch My Campus. ‘They know that higher education is experiencing infiltration from donors who seek to leverage their institutions for private and corporate interests.’”
Koch affiliation with proposed law college program at Nebraska worries some UNL professors
Omaha World-Herald
Rick Ruggles, November 7, 2019
“Samantha Parsons, campaign director for UnKoch My Campus, said she believes that problems with the foundation continue.
“Koch has not stopped putting problematic terms in their gift agreements,” she said. “They’re just not as explicit” as they were in the past.
Students at George Mason University sued their school for records associated with the Koch contract, Parsons said. The students lost in a lower court and have appealed to the Virginia Supreme Court, she said.”
Colleges Are Spreading Trump’s Disingenuous Notion of ‘Free Speech’
The Nation
P.E. Moskowitz, October 16, 2019
“Over the past several years, the nonprofit UnKoch My Campus has collected thousands of pages of documents that show the true intent of these laws and policies prohibiting dissent: they are not meant to increase free speech, but are instead part of a larger strategy to turn higher education into a conservative thought and policy factory. The Koch family now funds programs, professorships, and student groups at over 300 colleges and universities, and many of the “free speech” organizations, that push for restrictive protest policies.”
Protesters rally, march during MIT Corporation annual meeting
The Huntington News
Nicolas Stolte, October 9, 2019
“Others led chants to ‘democratize MIT’ and called for the creation of a faculty-led senate who would have a final say in donations accepted by MIT. Organizers said MIT has not responded to their protests, a point of concern for them. ‘It’s mostly been radio silence, and that’s concerning because a lot of people really want to hear a response,’ said Nathan Foster, an organizer with UnKoch My Campus from Tufts University.
What Koch Foundation money means for the Universities that receive it
The Daily Tar Heel
Maeve Sheehey, October 6, 2019
“Like many large universities, UNC has received donations from the foundation — including a pledge of $3.4 million to the Philosophy, Politics and Economics program in 2018. ‘The important thing for you to understand about PPE is that in a state overrun by racially motivated gerrymandering and voter suppression, the curriculum and the context of this strategy is really critical,’ Banks said. ‘There’s a reason why North Carolina was chosen for this.’”
The Right Is Taking Over the Courts, and Trump Is Making It Easy
Truthout
Eleanor Bader, September 30, 2019
“A report from the five-year-old UnKoch My Campus campaign, called UnKoch Our Courts, reveals that this is not a new strategy. In fact, since its founding in 1974, the Law and Economics Center at George Mason has provided more than 200 one-day and weekend “training sessions” for approximately 5,000 judges and 700 Attorneys General and their senior staffs. According to the Law and Economics Center website, these “educational” outings provide a chance for attendees to rub elbows with prominent right-wing legal theorists and business people as they discuss economics and public policy.”
#They Knew protesters rally against MIT’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein
The Tech
Kristina Chen, September 19, 2019
“The main goal of the protest, Mengiste told The Tech, was “to give a voice to serve the MIT community, and to give us a chance to respond to the events that have unfolded for the past three weeks.” She described these events as ‘symptomatic of a bigger problem … the fact that there’s no transparency with which the Institute handles donations.’”
The Koch Foundation Is Trying to Reshape Foreign Policy. With Liberal Allies.
The New York Times Magazine
Beverly Gage, September 10, 2019
“But national activists opposed to Koch money on campus remain skeptical about the foundation’s recent reforms. ‘We will not compromise,’ says Jasmine Banks, executive director of UnKoch My Campus, which urges universities to reject funding from Koch-affiliated organizations. UnKoch My Campus has not focused on the foreign-policy sphere, devoting most of its attention to Koch donations in fields like economics and law. But regardless of the field, Banks argues, there is no separating the foundation’s philanthropy from its founder’s broader political agenda, which is fundamentally at odds with universities’ obligation to act ‘with the common good in mind.’”
Concerns About a Big Gift and a Former Academic at George Mason
Inside Higher Ed
Colleen Flaharty, August 30, 2019
“Documents obtained by the group UnKoch My Campus and shared last week show that the Rouse trust ordered that the funds be used "as an endowment to fund a chair or chairs that will promote the conservative principles of governance, statesmanship, high morals, civil and religious freedom and the study of the U.S. Constitution.”
Can We Guarantee That Colleges Are Intellectually Diverse?
New York Times
Molly Worthen, August 30, 2019
“The organization UnKoch My Campus has tracked ‘undue donor influence’ in conservative philanthropy at schools such as George Mason University and Florida State University.”
David Koch is Dead. We Must Now Take On His Harmful Legacy in Higher Education
Truthout
Jasmine Banks & Samantha Parsons, August 24, 2019
“David Koch died with a net worth of $59 billion. There is no doubt that his estate will continue to sow the same evils into the world that he did alongside his brother Charles. When one has this amount of wealth at their disposal, their money buys immortality; so for us at UnKoch My Campus, we will continue to organize against David Koch’s legacy.”
Koch Grant Sparks Debate at SCU Over Philanthropy, Free Speech, Academic Independence
San Jose Inside
Nicholas Chan July 3, 2019
“Jasmine Banks, executive director of UnKoch My Campus, a nationwide organization dedicated to fighting donor influence in higher education, claims she knows the answer. ‘It’s fiscal control,’ she asserts in a phone interview. ‘It’s using your donation to coerce institutions into your agenda.’”
Virginia Supreme Court Agrees to Hear GMU Transparency Lawsuit
Fairfax County Times
Angela Woolsey, April 5 2019
“The nonprofit UnKoch My Campus, which opposes corporate and private interests in public education, expressed its support of Transparent GMU as the group prepares for the Supreme Court.
‘The public has a legal right to access details related to the private funding supporting their public education,’ UnKoch My Campus co-founder and former Transparent GMU president Samantha Parsons said. “I am very happy to hear that the Supreme Court is taking on the students’ case.”
Organizing Against Koch Influence on College Campuses
Facing South
Rebekah Barber, March 15, 2019
“Facing South recently spoke with Samantha Parsons, who co-founded UnKoch My Campus when she was a student at GMU and currently serves as the group's campaigns director. She explains how students, faculty, and community members nationwide are joining forces to build power, promote transparency, and limit corporate influence at the university level.”
Activists Are Pushing to Remove Donor Influence From College Campuses
Truthout
Eleanor Bader, March 9, 2019
“The Koch brothers — billionaire businessmen whose fortune comes from the oil and gas industries, and whose gospel of unregulated capitalism has been promulgated through a network of groups — have far-reaching tentacles that extend into academia. In fact, a report released in October 2018 by the Center for Biological Diversity and UnKoch My Campus revealed that the Charles Koch Foundation has, in recent years, donated $200 million to support 800 faculty positions on 300 campuses throughout the U.S.”
School’s Out Forever: Authoritarians all over the world are targeting universities.
Slate
Rosa Schwartzburg, February 20, 2019
“A few organizations—such as the American Association of University Professors, the Network of Concerned Academics, the UnKoch My Campus movement in the U.S., and the Szabad Egyetem/Free University student group in Hungary—are fighting back with some success. But history is clear: If we don’t dedicate ourselves to defending our universities, our democracies will erode even further. Educational institutions and individual academics, despite their flawed structures or practices, are vital to our salvation.”
2018
Nonprofit report recommends USU cuts ties with Koch Foundation
The Utah Statesman
Alison Berg & Carter Moore, October 29, 2018
“A report released on Tuesday by nonprofits UnKoch My Campus and the Center for Biological Diversity recommends Utah State University ‘should immediately rescind its agreement with the Charles Koch Foundation and disaffiliate itself from the Center for Growth and Opportunity.’”
Duke is getting Koch money: That should worry you
The Chronicle
Eladio Bobadilla, September 24, 2018
“Earlier this year, UnKoch My Campus exposed a network of neo-confederate academics across the nation receiving over $14 million from the Charles Koch Foundation, including professors with ties to the white supremacist group League of the South. These academics are advancing a market-fundamentalist, anti-civil rights ideology that is also fueling the violent Alt-Right: the Austrian school of economics.”
Koch-Funded Think Tank Linked to George Mason University Is Now Pretending It’s Not Part of George Mason University
The Intercept
David Dayen, September 19th, 2018
“Samantha Parsons, a George Mason alum and co-founder of UnKoch My Campus, believes that Mercatus’s ties to the university allow the organization to essentially launder its agenda so it appears more objective. ‘It’s always described as the Mercatus Center at George Mason University,’ Parsons said. ‘Just that automatically lends comfort to the public, that it’s associated with the university, not biased.’”
The Charles Koch Foundation paid to pull strings at George Mason. It’s time for transparency.
Washington Post
Editorial Board, May 6, 2018
“Prodded by a Freedom of Information Act request from UnKoch My Campus, the university has released documents showing the conservative Koch Foundation had been given a voice in faculty selection and evaluation. The agreements released by George Mason showed the Koch Foundation enjoyed the right to name members of a selection committee that could recommend appointment of professors at the school’s Mercatus Center for free-market research.”
Balancing Act: Can Koch Giving Bolster a Corporate Brand While Pushing a Libertarian Agenda?
Inside Philanthropy
Mike Scutari, March 6, 2017
"To the degree that these ideas have greater traction in U.S. society and public policy, Koch Industries will face less regulatory oversight, and the Kochs themselves may pay less in taxes. Even if you believe that Charles Koch is committed to his views for the sake of principle, it's hard to not see Koch donations on college campuses as a form of interested money. Which helps explain why these gifts continue to draw enormous pushback, with the group UnKoch My Campus leading the charge. "
UnKoch My Campus:
Opposing Billionaires' Efforts to Infiltrate Higher Education
Truth-Out.org,
Eleanor Bader, Dec 7, 2016
"By all accounts, fighting the 'Kochtopus' and the growing corporatization of academia will be a steep climb for the foreseeable future, but UnKoch My Campus activists are optimistic. [Lindsey] Berger cites increasing numbers of faculty members across the country who are revisiting policies to make sure that they have a say in governance, faculty hiring and procedures that both directly and indirectly impact education. 'They understand the reach of funding agreements and are looking at stipulations that donors place on grants,' she says."
Koch brothers supersize higher-ed spending
Center for Public Integrity (December 2015)
Suffolk University cuts ties with conservative
research group, Boston Globe (December 2015)
Koch brothers pour millions into education to promote libertarian ideas
Center for Public Integrity (October 2015)
“The [Koch] network is fully integrated, so it’s not just work at the universities with the students, but it’s also building state-based capabilities and election capabilities and integrating this talent pipeline,” he said.
“So you can see how this is useful to each other over time,” he continued. “No one else has this infrastructure. We’re very excited about doing it.” - Kevin Gentry, vice president of the Charles G. Koch Foundation.
Sunshine and the Koch Foundation
The Wall Street Journal (April 2015)
"We [UnKoch My Campus} do not seek to stifle debate on campus, nor do we discourage private donations from anyone. We welcome the debate; we just want to know whom we’re debating."
Koch Funding of Universities Shrouded in Mystery
PR Watch (April 2015)
"Our work with UnKochMyCampus has shown us that transparency removes the smoke and mirrors that cloud the debate, leaving ordinary people ill-equipped to develop informed opinions on research and policy around the most important issues of the day. Our policy is being shaped by corporations, for corporations - and that’s a huge problem."
The Campus Climate Crusade
Wall Street Journal (March 2015)
"Disclosure is becoming the left’s new weapon. And it’s shutting down debate across the country."
Koch foundation proposal to college:
Teach our curriculum, get millions
Center for Public Integrity (September 2014)
"In 2007, when the Charles Koch Foundation considered giving millions of dollars to Florida State University's economics department, the offer came with strings attached.
First, the curriculum it funded must align with the libertarian, deregulatory economic philosophy of Charles Koch, the billionaire industrialist and Republican political bankroller.
Second, the Charles Koch Foundation would at least partially control which faculty members Florida State University hired.
And third, Bruce Benson, a prominent libertarian economic theorist and Florida State University economics department chairman, must stay on another three years as department chairman - even though he told his wife he'd step down in 2009 after one three-year term."
Koch Foundation Criticized Again for Influencing Florida State
NPR (May 2014):
"RUDY FICHTENBAUM: You know, it amounts to the Koch Brothers' foundation basically trying to buy a position on the faculty [at Florida State University]. And that certainly is a threat to academic freedom."
"Inside the Koch Brothers' campus crusade,"
Center for Public Integrity (March 2014):
"In all, two of the six private charitable foundations the Koch Brothers control and personally fund combined in 2012 to infuse colleges and universities with more than $12.7 million, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of Internal Revenue service tax filings."
"In 2012, the Koch foundations sent six- or seven-figure donations to 12 colleges and universities, including big-name schools such as George Mason University in Virginia, Southern Methodist University in Texas, West Virginia University, Florida State University, Utah State University, Kansas State University and the University of Arizona."
Charles Koch's Wall Street Journal Op-eds (2014):
"Far from trying to rig the system, I have spent decades opposing cronyism and all political favors, including mandates, subsidies and protective tariffs—even when we benefit from them. I believe that cronyism is nothing more than welfare for the rich and powerful, and should be abolished."
"Those in power fail to see that more government means less liberty, and liberty is the essence of what it means to be American. Love of liberty is the American ideal."
Covert Operations (August 2010):
"Koch Industries owns Brawny paper towels, Dixie cups, Georgia-Pacific lumber, Stainmaster carpet, and Lycra, among other products. Forbes ranks it as the second-largest private company in the country, after Cargill, and its consistent profitability has made David and Charles Koch - who, years ago, bought out two other brother - among the richest men in America."