Posted by Jonathan Adler:
Academic Controversy Amidst the Cornfields:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2007_09_30-2007_10_06.shtml#1191723496
The creation of a new fund to support the study of entrepreneurship,
free market capitalism, individual liberty and limited government at
the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has sparked controversy
at the midwestern campus. Some Illinois faculty are concerned the
creation of the [1]Academy on Capitalism and Limited Government
represents an end-run around faculty governance to advance a
right-wing ideological agenda. As [2]Inside Higher Education reports,
some faculty see the Academy as
a move by conservative alumni with influential national support to
bypass normal faculty governance, create new courses and impose
ideological tests on who gets certain pots of money. The alumni who
have given the money for the effort, currently housed at the
university�s foundation, are explicit that they want a formal role
in who gets money from the fund, the views those people should
have, and the eventual goal of creating a new version of the Hoover
Institution at a top public university, with the ambition of
inspiring others to follow their model.
As a result of those statements and other concerns, professors at
the university are debating whether the new academy is appropriate
for the university. Some like the program, others think it could
work with certain oversight provisions, and others find the entire
idea questionable.
The Academy officially launched this past week with a [3]half-day
conference featuring Steve Forbes and UIUC alum Robert Novak. For more
on the controversy, see [4]here, [5]here, and [6]here.
References
1. http://aclg.uif.uillinois.edu/
2. http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/09/20/illinois
3. http://aclg.uif.uillinois.edu/pdf/sept-agenda.pdf
4. http://www.news.uiuc.edu/ii/07/1004/senate.html
5.
http://media.www.dailyillini.com/media/storage/paper736/news/2007/10/02/News/Partisan.Fund.Alarms.Uc.Senate-3004838.shtml
6.
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/couriernews/news/578765,3_1_EL28_A5UOFI_S1.article
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