Ayn Rand & Capitalism Grant at Univ of South Carolina

The Associated Press reports (via The Mercury News) that the University of South Carolina has received a $1 million grant from Branch Banking & Trust Company (BB&T) to promote the study of capitalism:

USC will get the funds over the next couple years, said business school dean Joel Smith III, and will use the money to create a capitalism ethics class, a capitalism-focused professorship, a lecture series and a room in the business library dedicated to the works of authors that support free enterprise such as Ayn Rand.
John Allison, chairman and CEO of BB&T, said USC and the bank jointly developed the focus of the endowment.
“If you look at a lot of business education programs, they do a good job of teaching people the technical part of business,” Allison said. “But they don’t often explain the philosophical foundations for capitalism, and anybody can make better decisions if they understand the context.”
Smith said the study of ethics has become more common in recent years but the way USC will study “the moral defense of capitalism as a mechanism is fairly unique.” […]
Smith said recent business ethics scandals have brought to light the need for a program of the ethics of capitalism.
“What’s more important is that the leaders of the future and the practitioners of the future understand the difference and practice properly,” Smith said.

See the full article in The Mercury News for additional information.
UPDATE: “USC also will dedicate an Ayn Rand reading room as part of the renovated Springs Library at the business school and launch a BB&T speaker series.”
UPDATE (3/25): This story just doesn’t quit. Now they’re adding a graduate course to study Atlas Shrugged, too.