Inside Higher Education January 12, 2017 Big Koch Foundation Grant to Black College Group By Scott Jaschik Charles Koch is giving -- through his foundation and business -- $25.6 million to the Thurgood Marshall College Fund to support research by scholars at historically black colleges on education, criminal justice and entrepreneurship in areas that face high crime rates, The Washington Post<https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/charles-koch-teams-with-black-colleges-on-education-and-criminal-justice-research/2017/01/11/ab8a8d02-d838-11e6-9f9f-5cdb4b7f8dd7_story.html?utm_term=.b87dc8de4d9b> reported. The fund, which primarily supports public, historically black colleges, will create a research center on those topics. Gifts by the Koch brothers (Charles is one of them) and their businesses and foundations have been controversial in higher education. A 2014 gift to the United Negro College Fund prompted criticism of the organization<https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/06/09/uncf-receives-25m-koch-brothers-prompting-praise-and-anger>. Many noted that the brothers have spent scores of millions of dollars backing candidates who advocate sharp reductions in federal spending (on which black colleges and their students depend) and who campaign against just about every initiative of the Obama administration. SANDRA M. PHOENIX HBCU Library Alliance Executive Director Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library 111 James P. Brawley Drive SW Atlanta, GA 30314 404-978-2118 (office) 404-702-5854 (cell) http://www.hbculibraries.org/ sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org%3cmailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org>> Honor the ancestors, honor the children. Follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hbculibraryalliance1/ and Twitter https://twitter.com/HBCULibAlliance Check out "PULSE!" The HBCU Library Alliance's News Source! - https://hbculibraryalliance.wordpress.com/