In the past five years there has been an increase in online news stories, all asking a somewhat similar question that can be paraphrased as, “Why are billionaires funding colleges and universities” (Butler, 2015; Center for Public Integrity, 2018; Levinthal, 2014)? Of course, the question could be reframed as, “What do billionaires get from their philanthropic approach to higher education?” On its surface, the question appears harmless: billionaires presumably receive nothing by giving their money to institutions of higher education, other than the chance to spread knowledge and prosperity beyond themselves. But digging a little deeper tells a different story. The billionaire donations function to buy things in higher education that arguably should not be for sale: such as an ability to influence knowledge production in their own image, or an ability to influence university policies on hiring faculty and staff thatmirror their own political and economic positions, among other things (Levinthal, 2014). The above questions have been aimed not only at some of the most prominent higher education institutions throughout the U.S., but also at billionaires like Charles and David Koch (the Koch brothers). Prior to David’s death in 2019, the Koch brothers were most well known for their ownership of Koch Industries (Forbes, 2018), the second largest privately held company in the U.S., thanks to hydraulic fracturing (or fracking). Keeping in mind the above questions, Koch donations to higher education institutions have been under increasing scrutiny recently due to the environmental harms of fracking and the Kochs openly conservative and capitalist agenda: “The Kochs have donated to over 300 colleges in the past 10 years,” and there is “evidence to suggest that the Kochs are giving this money with strings attached—to influence college research, the professors hired, and the coursework being taught” in the hopes of padding “their bottom line” (UnKoch Toolkit, 2019, p. 1). Although the Kochs are one of the more infamous examples, the wealthy have weaponized philanthropy as a way to influence institutions of higher education in the past. Organizations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the J.C. Kellogg Foundation, and the Walton Family Foundation continue to give billions of dollars in the form of grants and aid to U.S. institutions of higher education (Inside Philanthropy, 2019; The Room, 2012). My short piece suggests a problem with each of these foundations and donors, no matter their political leanings. Put simply, my concern is not with

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迈向 UnKoch 的实践：传播与西方知识

在过去五年中，在线新闻报道有所增加，所有人都提出了一个有点类似的问题，可以解释为“为什么亿万富翁要资助大学和大学”（巴特勒，2015 年；公共诚信中心，2018 年；莱文塔尔， 2014）？当然，这个问题可以重新定义为：“亿万富翁从他们对高等教育的慈善方法中得到了什么？” 从表面上看，这个问题似乎是无害的：亿万富翁把钱捐给高等教育机构，除了有机会将知识和繁荣传播到他们之外，大概什么也得不到。但深入挖掘会讲述一个不同的故事。亿万富翁的捐款用于购买高等教育中可以说不应该出售的东西：例如以他们自己的形象影响知识生产的能力，或影响大学政策的能力，以雇用反映自己政治和经济立场的教职员工等（Levinthal，2014）。上述问题不仅针对美国一些最著名的高等教育机构，还针对查尔斯和大卫科赫（科赫兄弟）等亿万富翁。在大卫于 2019 年去世之前，科赫兄弟最为人所知的是他们拥有科赫工业公司（福布斯，2018 年），这是美国第二大私营公司，这要归功于水力压裂（或水力压裂）。牢记上述问题，由于水力压裂对环境的危害以及科赫公开的保守和资本主义议程，科赫对高等教育机构的捐赠最近受到越来越多的审查：“在过去的 10 年中，科赫一家向 300 多所大学捐款”，并且“有证据表明科赫一家在提供这笔钱时附带条件——影响大学研究、聘用教授和教授的课程”。填补“他们的底线”的希望（UnKoch Toolkit，2019，第 1 页）。尽管科赫家族是最臭名昭著的例子之一，但过去富人已将慈善事业武器化，以此作为影响高等教育机构的一种方式。比尔和梅琳达·盖茨基金会、福特基金会、JC 凯洛格基金会和沃尔顿家族基金会等组织继续以赠款和援助的形式向美国高等教育机构提供数十亿美元（Inside Philanthropy，2019 年；The Room , 2012)。我的短文暗示了这些基金会和捐助者中的每一个都存在问题，无论他们的政治倾向如何。简单地说，我关心的不是