The problem with universities is that universities are not operations which are constructed for making money. They are operations which are chartered to spend money. Of course, in order to acquire money to spend, they do have to acquire it. But their job is to pursue non-economic purposes. Or, to put it another way, their job is to pursue and, in fact, to develop and shape purposes within the society in some specific way. They are value-makers. They are not supposed to be pursuing the values of the society by responding to demand; they are supposed to shape demand, which is, in fact, what education is all about.

...[U]niversity presidents rub elbows more and more with rich corporate donors, alumni and trustees. They travel in donated corporate jets, and they get paid CEO salaries.

The problem is, universities aren't businesses. The ultimate product and measure of success isn't profit, it's the quality of scholarship.

In fact, research and education don't make money, they cost money. The more successful a research program, the more it costs. The financial investments in all this don't yield short-term fiscal rewards, but long-term ones for society as a whole.

University presidents should be spokespeople for education, intellectual leaders whose vision guides colleagues and students alike — and inspires donors to reach into their pockets, but they must balance the last task carefully.

Presidents disconnect from their shareholders — the faculty — at their own peril. But it's easy to see how this can happen when they spend their days away from their colleagues in a corporate jet at 50,000 feet, traveling at half the speed of sound.