Charles Koch Foundation Gift

Background:

The University recently accepted a gift from the Joe Craft foundation to support a Free Enterprise Institute, located in the Gatton College of Business and Economics. The following statement is in response to questions about the gift and the involvement of the Charles Koch Foundation:

Statement:

“Academic freedom is fundamental to who and what we are as an institution of higher learning. It defines us and the work we do to expand intellectual inquiry and advance knowledge. The agreement to establish the Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise at the University of Kentucky strongly reinforces those values. For example, we’ve utilized the same processes to hire faculty for the Institute used throughout the university. And the research that has been conducted there by outstanding faculty has been rigorously vetted and peer reviewed. And all of those protections have been supported by the Charles Koch Foundation throughout the life of the Institute. The University of Kentucky would not have accepted anything else.” – Jay Blanton, spokesman