The New York Times has this to say about universities putting “profit ahead of wonder”:

Perhaps the most troublesome aspect of campus commercialization is that research decisions are now being based on possible profits, not on the inherent value of knowledge. “Blue sky” research — the kind of basic experimentation that leads to a greater understanding of how the world works — has largely been set aside in favor of projects considered to have more immediate market potential. In academia’s continuing pursuit of profit, the wonder of simple serendipitous discovery has been left on the curb.

True, the inherent value of knowledge seems like a rather antiquated notion on campuses these days.