Koch network warns of 'McCarthyism 2.0' in conservative efforts to harass professors

[DonViejo]

By James Hohmann
August 1 at 8:45 AM

THE BIG IDEA:

COLORADO SPRINGS — Leaders of the donor network led by billionaire Charles Koch say they want college students to study Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin and Mao Zedong. They also want them to read Alexis de Tocqueville, Adam Smith and Friedrich Hayek.

As the group of conservative and libertarian megadonors ramps up its support for initiatives aimed at transforming higher education, the people in charge of spending the money promise it won’t just go to advance their own philosophy.

“If people don't know and understand all the ideas that have influenced history, then how in the world can we have any hope of making progress in the future? Innovation and discovery depend on the collision of different ideas,” said John Hardin, the director of university relations for the Charles Koch Foundation. “This is going to be even more important with the future that we're heading into, where change comes rapidly and students are going to need the skills to adapt quickly.”

Speaking to donors at their retreat in the Rocky Mountains this week, he and other Koch officials went out of their way to criticize groups on the right that are pursuing a more confrontational approach on college campuses. Hardin said it’s not just liberals who are shouting down conservative speakers and trying to crowd out ideas they don’t like. He specifically faulted Turning Point USA, a pro-Trump student group, that has created a “Professor Watchlist” website to identify liberal faculty members.

“Instead of supporting groups that put professors that they disagree with on watch lists,” Hardin said, “we support folks who take those professors to lunch, who co-teach with those professors and who collaborate with those professors.”

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2018/08/01/daily-202-koch-network-warns-of-mccarthyism-2-0-in-conservative-efforts-to-harass-professors/5b611a871b326b0207955e90/

[unc70]

1. Read all of them. A liberal arts education

I read all the mentioned writers while getting a liberal arts education at Carolina. The liberal arts are an anathema to many conservatives including many who are now controlling NC's universities from the legislature and the board of governors.

IMNSHO Hayek barely deserves a mention. While a favorite of Jesse Helms and many on the libertarian right, Hayek was a miserable scholar who was wrong about nearly everything. He had some easy targets with centrally planned socialism failures, those failures did not mean that his own theories were any better.

Much like Ayn Rand, Hayek came to rely on the socialism of his university appointments for housing, health care, and retirement. Another failure as a libertarian.