As a longtime skeptic* of the Koch Foundation's habit of finding ways to entice liberals to support their work, here's the loophole I see in Ruger and Hardin's rhetoric:
The Koch Foundation has been caught trying to place unqualified academics in existing departments at several universities. In each case, those departments rejected hiring Koch-favored faculty into their departments, and Koch-funded professors at these campuses had to establish their own separate centers in order to go through with hiring people deemed unqualified by their peers.
So, Koch is probably annoyed that they are being rejected by departments, including economics departments, and having to set up second-rate alternatives in Business schools. They'd rather get the full legitimacy of established university departments with good reputations.
At the University of Utah, Koch funds created a new department that the economics department faculty says is duplicitous of the existing department. UU Econ faculty have had to defend themselves from accusations of "Marxist," bias, which former UU Econ students and current faculty disputed:
Koch is just part of the picture. Note the significance of Randy & Ken Kendricks in Charles Koch's Freedom Partners network.
Koch and Kendricks and others (Karl Eller?) finance the state universities as well, as part of a much broader scheme.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/connor-gibson/to-charles-koch-professor_b_9100904.html
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The Koch Foundation has been caught trying to place unqualified academics in existing departments at several universities. In each case, those departments rejected hiring Koch-favored faculty into their departments, and Koch-funded professors at these campuses had to establish their own separate centers in order to go through with hiring people deemed unqualified by their peers.
So, Koch is probably annoyed that they are being rejected by departments, including economics departments, and having to set up second-rate alternatives in Business schools. They'd rather get the full legitimacy of established university departments with good reputations.
Here are the examples I am talking about:
Texas Tech University was a doozie - many departments rejected the Koch program, one by one:
https://www.texasobserver.org/koch-free-ma…
At Chapman University, Koch tried to take over the English department:
https://www.ocregister.com/2018/06/08/5-mi…
At the University of Utah, Koch funds created a new department that the economics department faculty says is duplicitous of the existing department. UU Econ faculty have had to defend themselves from accusations of "Marxist," bias, which former UU Econ students and current faculty disputed:
https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/…
http://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=5…
https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865685…
*Disclosure: I am a proud co-founder of UnKoch My Campus, which has spent five years uncovering this kind of poisonous trend in Koch's "philanthropy."
More documents and primary sources here:
http://unkochmycampus.org
Koch and Kendricks and others (Karl Eller?) finance the state universities as well, as part of a much broader scheme.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/connor-gibson/to-charles-koch-professor_b_9100904.html