Freedom stifled at Wellesley college

The founder and director of Wellesley College’s controversial Freedom Project, a program backed by the Charles Koch Foundation, is stepping aside amid an outcry from college alumnae uncomfortable with the libertarian billionaire Koch exerting influence on campus.

Thomas Cushman, a tenured sociology professor at the college, will leave campus for a year, and the college is overhauling the program, which brings conservative and controversial speakers to campus. The college will appoint a new director for the next academic year and is creating a task force to recommend ways to “explore the important role of free speech’’ on campus, according to a statement sent from the college.

The shake-up occurred after the Globe outlined how Wellesley’s Freedom Project was pitched to conservative donors as a way to break through perceived liberal dogma on American campuses.

SOURCE