Banking CEO John Allison has, since 1999, shelled out $28 million to 27 colleges to support the study of capitalism from a moral perspective-often stipulating that Ayn Rand's colossal novel Atlas Shrugged be required reading.
Owing his rise in finance to the Randian philosophy of self-interest and limited business regulation, the philanthropic arm of Allison's BB&T bank most recently celebrated the opening of the "Ayn Rand Reading Room" on UNC Charlotte's campus. But the strings attached to Allison's donations-which are rare in their influence on academic content-have several higher educators up in arms.
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