Frankly I greatly prefer the "toxic sludge of today's academia" to the drivel you are attempting to pass off as thoughtful and sensible commentary.  This is the opinion piece equivalent of fake news. There is, of course, a small kernel of truth in your writing but your hyperbolic piece is largely evidence free.  "In recent decades, America's universities have declined in quality nearly as much as they have increased in price." Really? Says you?  Thanks for throwing red meat to the forces of anti-intellectualism and rejection of rigorous thought that are the real danger to our society. Issues of "safe spaces" and "micro-aggression"  and other excesses of political correctness will work themselves out without your damning of academia.