Although some Marshall University professors are concerned about a $1 million grant from BB&T that requires the use of a specific book - Ayn Rand's novel "Atlas Shrugged" - the professor who will teach the course said he is comfortable doing so.
Although some Marshall University professors are concerned about a $1 million grant from BB&T that requires the use of a specific book - Ayn Rand's novel "Atlas Shrugged" - the professor who will teach the course said he is comfortable doing so.
"The university was free to accept or reject the grant," said Cal Kent, vice president for business and economic research at Marshall. "I was free to accept or reject teaching the course."
Last month, Marshall University accepted the $1 million gift from the BB&T Charitable Foundation. The grant will help establish the BB&T Center for the Advancement of American Capitalism. According to BB&T and Marshall, the center will provide students with a background in the workings of capitalism and free-market forces.
The selection of books for a course should be the prerogative of the professor, not that of the highest bidder, said Jamie Warner, vice president of undergraduate studies in political science at Marshall.
"Just because most of us tend to agree with capitalism and agree it's OK, doesn't mean outside people should be dictating [what we teach]," she said. "You pick the text to what you think will best benefit the students."
"Atlas Shrugged" is the final novel written by Rand, an American philosopher and author. Set in the United States in a communist world, the novel critiques the corrupt system and its damaging effects on love, science and industrial productivity. Rand argues that over time, self-sacrifice will cause a society to self-destruct.
"Atlas Shrugged" is a world-renowned philosophical novel, but Rand's work has been largely frozen out of the academic community, the BB&T Charitable Foundation said in a written statement.
"We have tried to encourage that discussion by supporting professors who have an interest in Rand," the foundation said in the statement. "All the professors involved in these programs believe this is an appropriate academic endeavor, completely independent of BB&T's interest. This is ultimately an expression of academic freedom by these professors."
In a news release announcing Marshall's gift last month, Phyllis Arnold, BB&T West Virginia's president, said "John Allison, our chairman and chief executive officer, passionately believes there needs to be a deeper understanding of the moral defense of capitalism and its causal relationship to economic well-being."
Warner said that "sounds more like preaching, not teaching."
"This idea that we would teach the moral value because someone donated money makes a lot of people [within Marshall's faculty] very uncomfortable," he said.
The BB&T foundation has also given similar gifts in support of programs involving business, ethics and philosophy to West Virginia University, the University of Charleston and Wheeling Jesuit University.
Although some Marshall University professors are concerned about a $1 million grant from BB&T that requires the use of a specific book - Ayn Rand's novel "Atlas Shrugged" - the professor who will teach the course said he is comfortable doing so.
"The university was free to accept or reject the grant," said Cal Kent, vice president for business and economic research at Marshall. "I was free to accept or reject teaching the course."
Last month, Marshall University accepted the $1 million gift from the BB&T Charitable Foundation. The grant will help establish the BB&T Center for the Advancement of American Capitalism. According to BB&T and Marshall, the center will provide students with a background in the workings of capitalism and free-market forces.
The selection of books for a course should be the prerogative of the professor, not that of the highest bidder, said Jamie Warner, vice president of undergraduate studies in political science at Marshall.
"Just because most of us tend to agree with capitalism and agree it's OK, doesn't mean outside people should be dictating [what we teach]," she said. "You pick the text to what you think will best benefit the students."
"Atlas Shrugged" is the final novel written by Rand, an American philosopher and author. Set in the United States in a communist world, the novel critiques the corrupt system and its damaging effects on love, science and industrial productivity. Rand argues that over time, self-sacrifice will cause a society to self-destruct.
"Atlas Shrugged" is a world-renowned philosophical novel, but Rand's work has been largely frozen out of the academic community, the BB&T Charitable Foundation said in a written statement.
"We have tried to encourage that discussion by supporting professors who have an interest in Rand," the foundation said in the statement. "All the professors involved in these programs believe this is an appropriate academic endeavor, completely independent of BB&T's interest. This is ultimately an expression of academic freedom by these professors."
In a news release announcing Marshall's gift last month, Phyllis Arnold, BB&T West Virginia's president, said "John Allison, our chairman and chief executive officer, passionately believes there needs to be a deeper understanding of the moral defense of capitalism and its causal relationship to economic well-being."
Warner said that "sounds more like preaching, not teaching."
"This idea that we would teach the moral value because someone donated money makes a lot of people [within Marshall's faculty] very uncomfortable," he said.
The BB&T foundation has also given similar gifts in support of programs involving business, ethics and philosophy to West Virginia University, the University of Charleston and Wheeling Jesuit University.
In April 2007, BB&T pledged a $350,000 grant over seven years to the University of Charleston' s Herbert Jones Division of Business. The grant also created a program based on the philosophy of "Atlas Shrugged."
UC President Edwin Welch said the program fit the current teachings of the department and faculty agreed to the grant's terms.
"The infringement of academic freedom is whether the professor wants to teach it or not," Welch said. The university crossed no ethical lines when it accepted the grant, strings and all, he said.
In 2007, WVU's College of Business and Economics accepted a $1.7 million grant from BB&T, with an expectation Rand's work would be included in the course.
"I don't think there is business course or an ethics course that didn't include ["Atlas Shrugged"], that is the book on that subject," said Russell Sobel, professor of economics and chairman of entrepreneurial studies at WVU.
Sobel said BB&T has provided grants to business programs so students have a better understanding of the morals and ethics within the business community.
Kent said when the university applied for the grant with BB&T they put together a list of books they would like to include in the course. The list included "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Wealth of Nations" by Adam Smith, widely considered the first modern work on economics, he said.
"I'm the one that is going to be teaching the course," Kent said. "Students can't be propagandized - they can be caused to think, but they can't be propagandized."
The course is an elective. Students are not required to take it and it will be available to other majors, not just business, he said.
George Davis, a political science professor at Marshall, said he would like to see the curriculum for the course discussed among the university's Faculty Senate, which meets today.
To contact staff writer Veronica Nett, use e-mail or call 348-5113.
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