Koch-FSU controversy: Nothing to see here, move on

The left's new bogeymen are Charles and David Koch, billionaires who run Koch Industries, the nation's second largest privately held firm. Last week the St. Petersburg Times dishonestly told its readers:

A conservative billionaire who opposes government meddling in business has bought a rare commodity: the right to interfere in faculty hiring at a publicly funded university.

Charles Koch is that billionaire.

But the Florida State University's president fired back, as the Washington Post informs us:

Eric Barron, FSU's president, sharply criticized the account in e-mails to the university community, according to this account in the Tallahassee newspaper. (Although I hasten to add that the St. Pete Times story shows no signs of having been corrected, clarified or amended, which suggests that the editors are standing behind it.)

"Florida State University absolutely did not — and would not — sacrifice academic freedom in order to receive a donation of any kind," he wrote, as quoted in the Democrat.

Barron emphasized that faculty ultimately voted to approve the hires in question, and that the two candidates actually were not on the list prepared by the "advisory committee" in which Koch wields some influence.

Barron wrote, "it is clear that FSU faculty were the decision-makers at every level."

Barron continues to defend the Koch gift and the hiring process, as you will read here.

Here's my summation: There's nothing to see here folks, move on.

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