Oil and gas money shapes research, creates ‘echo chamber’ in higher education

Jackson Voss loves his alma mater, Louisiana State University. He appreciates that his undergraduate education was paid for by a program dreamed up by an oil magnate and that he received additional scholarships from ExxonMobil and Shell.

But the socially conscious Louisiana native was also aware of what the support of those companies seemed to buy — silence.

Voss, who graduated from LSU in Baton Rouge 11 years ago with a degree in political science, says when he attended school there...