What Is the Purpose of a University?

According to Drew Gilpin Faust, writing for The New York Times' "Crossroads" column, the "are meant to be producers not just of knowledge but also of (often inconvenient) doubt. They are creative and unruly places, homes to a polyphony of voices." Faust goes on to complain, however, that "at this moment in our history, universities might well ask if they have in fact done enough to raise the deep and unsettling questions necessary to any society."

Faust points out that a business degree, once the degree sought by students who could not manage to major in a serious subject, is now the most popular degree.