Now that the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) has accepted a $25 million donation from Charles and David Koch, at least one Ivy League professor is worried sick and a bunch of leftists have taken to Twitter to express their rage.
The donation, by Koch Industries Inc. and the Charles Koch Foundation, was announced on Friday. It will be split between $18.5 million for a new Koch Scholars Program supporting nearly 3,000 individual scholarships and $6.5 million for general support to the UNCF and historically black colleges.
Marybeth Gasman, a higher education professor at the University of Pennsylvania claimed that the UNCF – a charitable organization dedicated to helping black people get college degrees – is “wrong” to accept this particular $25 million to help black people get college degrees, according to Inside Higher Ed.
Gasman bellowed that Koch organizations have been “deeply affiliated with the Tea Party.” She alleges that Tea Party leaders want to weaken the political interests of black Americans.
“There is too much at stake to take money from them,” Gasman told Inside Higher Ed. “I feel like the UNCF is getting into the position of being a puppet.”
She is also agonized that the $25 million donation will put the Koch brothers in a positive light.
It didn’t take long for leftists to tweet their fury as well.
Twitter user OBA SCHOR texted this gem to the world on Sunday morning:
#Koch donation to @UNCF tells children everywhere that money is first and integrity is unnecessary. Sends the wrong damn message. Period.
— OBA SCHOR (@ObaSchor) June 8, 2014
Another recent tweet from SCHOR reads:
Right-Wing Christians ans Republican Policies Are Making America Stupid http://t.co/5WEfuDuDf8
— OBA SCHOR (@ObaSchor) June 8, 2014
In his all-caps Twitter profile, SCHOR describes himself as an “AFRICAN-AMERICAN MAN” with a message for “HATERS: KILL THEM WITH SUCCESS & BURY THEM WITH A SMILE.”
Similarly, Twitter user Kamilah Harris – a self-described “Secular Freethinker” – tweeted:
#UNCF Literally Sells Their “Souls To The Devil” Accepting Checks From The #KochBrothers W/Out Knowing Their Evil History. Craziness.
— Kamilah Harris (@DaHomieK) June 7, 2014
Another recent tweet from Harris reads:
I Think My Progressive Political Rant Is Done…For Now. #GiveBackTheMoneyUNCF Don’t Go Down That “Sell-Out” Road. You May Not Bounce Back.
— Kamilah Harris (@DaHomieK) June 7, 2014
Inside Higher Ed suggests that the wrath about the $25 million gift arises because critics worry that the scholarships will favor students who share the largely conservative and libertarian principles of Charles and David Koch.
The plan for the $18.5 million UNCF/Koch Scholars Program is to provide tuition assistance to “exemplary students with demonstrated financial need and an interest in the study of how entrepreneurship, economics, and innovation contribute to well-being for individuals, communities, and society.”
An agreement between UNCF and the Koch entities providing the cash calls for an advisory board composed of two representatives from UNCF, two people representing the Koch brothers and a professor from a historically black college.
UNCF is the largest provider of scholarships to black college students in the U.S. and also supports historically black colleges and universities. The $25 million donation is the fifth-largest ever received by the group. (RELATED: Koch Brothers Support United Negro College Fund, Reid Silent)
“Increasing well-being by helping people improve their lives has long been our focus,” Charles Koch said in a statement published by UNCF. “Our partnership with UNCF will provide promising students with new educational opportunities that will help them reach their full potential.”
Michael Lomax, president and CEO of UNCF, told the Associated Press that he’s happy to take the donation regardless of the ire it may raise from those who dislike the Kochs’ politics.
“Criticism is a small price for helping young people get the chance to realize their dream of a college education, and if I’ve got to bear the brunt of someone else’s criticism to ensure that we have the resources to help those students, then I can handle it,” Lomax said.
“UNCF has one principle that we hold on to — and it’s one that I looked at throughout this process, and that I’ve held firm to: that is that we believe and have believed for 70 years that our cause should be supported by all Americans, and therefore we urge all Americans to support UNCF,” the CEO also said, according to Inside Higher Ed.
Lomax also stated that scholarship beneficiaries would face “no political tests.”
The $25 million donation is two years in the making and UNCF officials worked hard to bring it about, notes Inside Higher Ed.
The philanthropic donation isn’t the first or the largest made by the Kochs. Charles Koch has given money to over 250 colleges and universities through his eponymous foundation, while David Koch has given over $200 million to support cancer research, including over $100 million to support the cancer research center at MIT that is named for him.
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