This is the same guy who was criticized by Greenwald for arguing bank bailouts were a good idea. (<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.salon.com&#x2F;2008&#x2F;10&#x2F;31&#x2F;pearlstein_3&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.salon.com&#x2F;2008&#x2F;10&#x2F;31&#x2F;pearlstein_3&#x2F;</a>)<p>I am a professor. This man&#x27;s ideas are totally naive. Universities and colleges are engaged in a cold war to avoid gaps in endowments, buildings and other metrics of prestige. Their students are willing to pay more for this prestige and so the cost goes up. It&#x27;s simple as that. If universities that decided not to heavily invest in themselves were effective at generating that prestige, the cost wouldn&#x27;t be going up.<p>Only a fraction of the people at the university are there because it is a place of learning, and almost all the people are engaged in research. Many of this guy&#x27;s ideas are worse than bad, they are poisonous.