The faculty didn’t want this to happen but it was approved anyway.

The News and Observer reports.

Koch-funded center approved at Western Carolina University

Despite faculty opposition, Western Carolina University’s Board of Trustees approved the creation of a center on free enterprise funded by the conservative Charles Koch Foundation.

The board voted unanimously Friday to approve the WCU Center for the Study of Free Enterprise. The center, to be led by an economics professor, was previously endorsed by the university’s provost and Chancellor David Belcher.

Now that the center is created, the university will seek $2 million over five years from the Charles Koch Foundation, which was established by billionaire businessman Charles Koch. He and his brother, David Koch, are known for funding conservative, libertarian, pro-business and anti-regulation causes. The foundation has been in talks with the university about the gift, but no written pledge has been received, Belcher said.

The board’s decision comes 10 months after the UNC system’s Board of Governors dissolved three academic centers that were aligned with progressive issues or professors.

One of those eliminated was UNC-Chapel Hill’s Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity, a foundation-funded entity led by law professor Gene Nichol, a frequent critic of Republican elected officials in North Carolina. Members of the Republican-dominated board said the decision, which followed a systemwide review of centers and institutes, was not about politics.

The Faculty Senate at WCU took a stand against the free enterprise center this fall, citing concerns about potential costs, lack of peer review and threats to academic freedom and the university’s reputation. The vote to oppose the center was 21-3, with 4 not taking a position.