What Profiteth the Not-For-Profit University? Notes From the Dismal Science

The biblical phrase I recall is "What profiteth a man if he gain the whole world but lose his own soul." At times I think that the "soul" of the university is the pursuit of truth, art, and knowledge. Yet, at other times I think our main work is to pass the best of our knowledge and culture on to the next generation; 'we touch the future, we teach.' Perhaps it is best to say that both are the soul of a university.