The Distinguished Professor takes a cheap shot at Ayn Rand (before saying "this is not an invitation to discuss the merits or demerits of Ayn Rand's work") and then reveals his wacky anticapitalism: "I am interested in what philosophers think about the institutinoal/academic freedom issues involved when money is given to promote a particular viewpoint or author."
This is money from a private foundation, and the Distinguished Professor has the temerity to worry about "academic freedom issues"? Huh? This kind of discussion of academic freedom is totally ripped from any proper context of what freedom means, which necessitates property rights as the material implementation. None of this is any secret to anyone who has studied libertarian political philosophy. So he poses a loaded question to fellow anti-capitalistic circle-jerkers.
This is a travesty of a philosophical mindset. So much for academia as we know it.
