Polishing the Apple

Thank you so much to the Koch brothers for donating $25 million to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). It'll provide scholarships for "3,000 exemplary students," with spare change left over to help fund operations for all historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and the UNCF. Coming from guys worth $100 billion, this is indeed noisy generosity, given the Kochs typically shroud most of their financial maneuvers in mystery.

As gilded PR stunts go, there's some presumption that $25 million will look fantastic to the average schmoe — us — until you put it in context. This nation has over 100 HBCUs with a total enrollment of approximately 324,000 students: the National Association for College and University Business Officers reports that the combined value of the top 10 HBCU endowments equals $1.5 billion, while the top 10 endowments of predominantly white colleges equals $154.7 billion (Stanford alone: $18.7 billion). The heart of the problem isn't just cash; the Department of Education has to revise the Parent Plus loans that basically tightened lending criteria and shut out middle-class black parents.

I would tell those 3,000 exemplary HBCU students to respect the scholarship, study hard, write the Kochs a heartfelt thank-you note every month of your life, graduate, and then — as professionals or private citizens — bust your chops to recover the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Since last August the Koch-backed group Americans for Prosperity has spent $44 million on Congressional races. In other words, regain the vote and fight voter suppression as much as you can, because your Koch-backed degree won't mean much if this democracy becomes an oligarchy where you come from a demographic that's being gerrymandered out of the vote. Call me an old softie but that's how I feel about it. #‎baloney