As a result of student, faculty, and public pressure, the Florida State University administration are conceding to several of the policy recommendations in our donor policy report [see: https://academeblog.org/2015/06/04/a-student-review-of-the-florida-state-university-gift-acceptance-policy-undue-influence-and-charles-koch-foundation/].

The FSU student paper broke the story, wherein the FSU Foundation acknowledges that it is “taking the report from Progress Coalition seriously”:

“’We are reviewing the draft gift acceptance policy in light of the Progress Coalition’s input, as well as suggestions from others. Some of these suggestions have merit, and we will adjust the next draft accordingly,’ Jennings said.” (Thomas W. Jennings is the Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Florida State University.)

It is worth noting Jennings’ very different statement to Politico several days earlier:

“’The Progress Coalition report mixes several versions of the Koch MOU and the FSU gift policies in a way that creates a picture that is at best incorrect and at worst deliberately misleading.’”

Yesterday, FSU posted a newly revised version of the policy that incorporates about half of our recommendations.

While this is a start, it is not enough. FSU Progress Coalition is continuing to pressure FSU into adopting all of the recommendations, not a single one of which we find unnecessary in protecting academic integrity of the university.