Charles and David Koch also have a long history of using academia to advance their business and political interests. In 2008, Florida State University entered into an agreement with The Charles Koch Charitable Foundation in which the foundation would provide millions of dollars in funds for the school’s economics department and would allow them a free hand in selecting professors and approving publications. The foundation wasted little time in asserting its influence. In 2009, it denied 60 percent of the faculty’s suggestions to fill the positions in the new programs, called the Study of Political Economy and Free Enterprise (SPEFE) and Excellence in Economics Education (EEE).

The Koch foundation exerts heavy influence at George Mason University through grants and control over The Mercatus Center, an institute that developed much of the Bush administration’s environmental deregulation policy. Koch foundations have struck similar conditional agreements with schools like Clemson and West Virginia University.