University of Pittsburgh

Higher Education Institution

Center for Governance and Markets

Pitt’s Center for Governance and Markets (CGM) was founded in October 2019 with funding from the Charles Koch Foundation (see below). This funding, and its free-market, limited-government emphasis, sparked controversy at the time. In January 2026, the CGM announced a new civil discourse program called Pluralism360@Pitt, in partnership with the Mercatus Center’s Pluralist Lab. Mercatus was personally co-founded by Charles Koch.

Notable People

Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili

Founding director of Pluralism360@Pitt

According to Murtazashvili’s CV, she has received project grants from multiple conservative and right-wing sources, including: Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, John Templeton Foundation, Atlas Network, and Mercatus Center. She was a Distinguished Fellow at the Institute for Humane Studies (a libertarian group closely tied to Charles Koch). Her CV also lists advisory board membership with the Acton Institute (which the Center for Media and Democracy’s SourceWatch describes as “a right-wing, libertarian think tank”). In March 2026, Murtazashvili wrote a Washington Post op-ed claiming that Americans who saw negative images of the Middle East conflict were being “duped by online propaganda.” She wrote:

[T]his war is going well for the United States, for Israel and maybe even for the long-suffering people of Iran.

Murtazashvili then cited Kobby Barda (see below):

[Barda] pointed me to what he considers the most telling indicator: Israel’s stock market surged when the fighting began and has remained near all-time highs. ‘Markets don’t lie,’ he told me. ‘They price in everything and right now they’re telling you Israel comes out of this stronger.’

Kobby Barda

Non-resident scholar at the Center for Governance and Markets

Barda is a political historian and a geostrategic adviser to Bank Hapoalim, which the CGM describes as Israel's largest bank. Barda has expressed strong criticism of pro-Palestinian campus organizing. In a November 2025 op-ed for Ynet Global, Barda described Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) as part of a network with connections to the Muslim Brotherhood:

In the United States, the Brotherhood operates through umbrella organizations rather than under its formal name:
…
SJP — Students for Justice in Palestine: A major campus-based activist network responsible for protests, professor harassment campaigns and anti-Israel messaging framed as “intersectional justice.” The movement links disparate minority groups under a shared narrative of struggle against “power,” often directed at Jews and Zionism.

Their strategic advantage is the ability to frame activism as advocacy for Palestinians while simultaneously inserting Islamist agendas into the institutions they influence.

Barda’s faculty page at the Holon Institute of Technology (Israel) indicates that he is engaged in an ongoing research project with the director of Pluralism360@Pitt, Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili (and one other scholar), entitled “Pathways to Antisemitism among American College Students.”

Notable Funders

Charles Koch Foundation/Stand Together Trust

$4.2 million to found the Center for Governance and Markets, which houses Pluralism360@Pitt; Pluralism360 director Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili is named as co-PI on the grant (2019)

Established by billionaire oil fortune heir, Charles Koch, the foundation has been a major funder of right-wing infrastructure for several decades. Koch invests millions into the Heritage Foundation and other conservative groups, including climate change denial organizations such as CO2 Coalition. See UNCIVIL’s June 2026 Funder Analysis for more details on Koch’s giving.

U.S. Department of Education

$2.7 million as part of the FIPSE “Civil Discourse” program (2026)

In January 2026, the department, led by billionaire Trump appointee Linda McMahon, announced a total of ~$52 million in grants to Pitt and 16 other institutions for “Promoting Civil Discourse on College Campuses.” According to the Department's application guidelines, the funding initiative was motivated by concerns that campus protesters were using “disruptive tactics,” “shouting down speakers,” and engaging in “campus takeovers” and “violent riots.” To counter these trends, the guidelines encouraged universities to “welcome and engage viewpoint diversity.” These so-called FIPSE grants (Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education) have historically been allocated toward things such as subsidies to boost college completion for underserved populations. The 2026 grants fell into three main categories: AI, Civil Discourse, and Accreditation Reform. The abrupt shift in FIPSE’s funding priorities aroused controversy.

See also: Davidson College; Ohio State University.

John Templeton Foundation

$2.4 million (2022-2025)

Established by billionaire investor John Templeton. The foundation was led from 2015 to 2025 by his granddaughter, Heather Templeton Dill. It is now headed by the former CEO of Christianity Today, which describes itself as a “globally minded evangelical magazine.” Templeton makes significant grants to conservative and right-wing advocacy organizations such as State Policy Network and Mercatus Center, and Atlas Network (all three of which are described by Greenpeace as “Koch Industries Climate Denial Front Groups”). The foundation also has documented ties to the Koch Network. See UNCIVIL’s June 2026 Funder Analysis for more details on Templeton’s giving.

All Angles

In addition to Pluralism360, Pitt hosts a civil discourse program called All Angles, which was launched in February 2022 as part of Pitt’s Elsie Hillman Civic Forum (named for the late Republican National Committeewoman and wife of billionaire Henry Hillman). Press for the program says that it “welcome[s] speakers to help explore some of society’s biggest questions and toughest topics…and to show participants how to navigate disparate perspectives, challenge the status quo and engage in civil discourse.”

Notable People

Hans A. von Spakovsky

Guest speaker in September 2023

All Angles hosted an event with a voting rights expert from the Brennan Center for Justice, alongside von Spakovsky. Von Spakovsky is a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a longtime advocate of stricter voting rules. A 2024 Guardian investigation reported that he had spent decades advancing “unfounded allegations of widespread voter fraud.” In addition, in March 2025, von Spakovsky advocated for the criminal prosecution and deportation of masked campus demonstrators, whom he characterized as “Hamas agitators.”

See also: Heritage Foundation.

Partnerships

BridgeUSA

Pitt hosts a chapter of BridgeUSA. Refer to the "BridgeUSA" entry for details about the organization's leadership and funders.

College Presidents for Civic Preparedness

Pitt chancellor Joan Gabel is a member of this coalition. The CPCP website includes a June 2025 interview with Gabel, and she has a featured testimonial on the site’s “Join Us” page. Refer to the "College Presidents for Civic Preparedness" entry for details about the organization's leadership and funders.

Campus Policy Context

On June 2, 2024, protesters established an encampment on the Cathedral lawn, demanding that Pitt divest from companies and institutions tied to Israel’s conduct in Gaza and the Palestinian territories. According to the protest organizers, Pitt’s chancellor, Joan Gabel, authorized state police to help clear the encampment.

On June 3, 2024, Chancellor Joan Gabel wrote the following as part of a letter to Pitt students, faculty, and staff, regarding the encampment: “[Pitt] is grounded in the spirit of discourse and dialogue…. However, we have no illusions that the efforts of this group last night are directed toward free expression.”

In July 2026, the university released a statement in which it asserted that, as a Pennsylvania public institution, it must comply with applicable state law “prohibiting institutional participation” in BDS activities. In the same response, Pitt said its approach to contentious issues should emphasize “dialogue and civil engagement,” “respectful discourse,” “engagement across differences,” and “opportunities for students to encounter diverse perspectives,” including “dialogue-based programming.” The statement also highlights Pitt’s work with The Institute for Citizens & Scholars (the host organization for the College Presidents for Civic Preparedness coalition), along with its “campus-wide Discourse and Dialogue programming.”