Angel or devil? White knight or black prince?

Charles Koch --- one of the famous brothers who perennially strive to impact national elections and spread their free-market philosophy --- has poured $50 million into George Mason University, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

According to the story, "While there is little question that George Mason owes a great deal to Mr. Koch’s generosity, there is considerable disagreement over whether the philanthropist’s donations lend him undue influence over the direction of the university or merely serve to enhance a few discrete academic programs that have long attracted scholars with a free-market orientation.
This long-festering dispute reached a tipping point earlier this spring, when George Mason announced that it would name its law school for Antonin Scalia, the late Supreme Court justice, in recognition of a $10-million gift from the Charles Koch Foundation and a $20-million donation from an anonymous benefactor."

This latter event resulted in 24 hours of hilarity in the blogosphere, as I noted in a previous post.

But should we really be concerned if Mr. Koch has undue influence at George Mason?  I think not.  The United States has thousands of institutions of higher learning.  Many are public and thus under the sway of governors, legislators and bureaucrats.  And many are private, and thus prey to the whims and whimsies of wealthy donors seeking immortality on the faces of buildings and stadia and even whole universities (witness Rowan University in South Jersey, changed from Glassboro State when zillionaire Hank Rowen dropped a hundred mill on the place).

And, no doubt, sometimes, these gazillionaires will want to influence the orientation of the research and pedagogy of the place.  So what?

I have argued in this blog that higher education --- especially private higher education --- needs to take the place of the news media in this nation, as the primary seeker and purveyor of truth, given that newspapers are a dying breed and TV has turned almost entirely to infotainment.

But if we are filling this void, let's recall that newspapers always have had their political and philosophical biases.  The Chicago Tribune has historically been a voice on the conservative side, especially during the years when Colonel Robert McCormick was at its helm.  The Hearst yellow journals of the last turn of the century played a significant role in precipitating the Spanish American War.

And that was OK, because there were many voices to be heard, many views to be considered by the citizenry.  And the same pertains to higher education.  It's entirely appropriate, even desirable, that some schools are oriented to particular religions, while others are aligned with the orientations of big shots such as Koch.  In the marketplace of ideas, many voices with varying viewpoints are the desired status quo.

So whether Mr. Koch seems to you or me to be a demon or a demigod makes little difference in the grand scheme.  All the Koch money didn't get Mr. Romney elected in 2012.  And all the bucks poured into George Mason U. will not do anything more than give the Brothers Koch a voice among many.  I imagine that is at times frustrating for them.  But I don't think it should concern us.