I disagree, and I think you're projecting both judgement and a cognitive bias for an ideal situation for you that would never occur in reality. It's a sort of g

I disagree, and I think you're projecting both judgement and a cognitive bias for an ideal situation for you that would never occur in reality. It's a sort of golden age or nirvana fallacy, looking back at universities of the past or your 'ideal university' as somehow better or more serious than the ones that exist today. For the past, at least, this wasn't true at all. If anything universities were were sillier, rowdier places. If it wasn't alcohol, it was other mischief and vice, more serious sports, and more pervasive greek systems. The offenses against seriousness you list aren't even that bad, to be honest. They suffer from a sort of 'vocal minority' effect, where they seem extremely loud and horrible, but in reality are just the outward projections of a minority percentage or a minority effect. A university is a microcosm of society. It has never been and will never be a completely serious place, because humans are not completely serious beings. Part of the glorious beauty and effectiveness of the university, even in its average form, is that it allows humans to be humans and to explore humanity; not only its serious aspects, but also its flaws, vices, and many varied possibilities. This is not a negative 'dominant influence,' but instead a highly functional, necessary, and intentional nod to the most effective development of a human being. Just look at it: there is somehow a great seriousness coming out of this crazy world of drinking, hyper-social behavior, hookups, greek systems, grade inflation, and college sports. This should tell you something: the whole experience of college and the seriousness of its intended result are not at odds, but instead—paradoxically in a sort of crazy zen-like relationship—necessary for one another to exist. There is a profound recognition that a serious, well-balanced human being capable of greatness is not constructed by seriousness itself, nor of serious places, but rather by a plentiful variety of experience. It is not the aim of universities to be serious places. They know better. They understand the complexities of culture, of society, and of the development of young people at a very critical stage of life. In the end, they most certainly achieve serious results very consistently—not in spite of their lack of seriousness, but in large part because of it, and especially thanks to an appreciation for it. And on an anecdotal note, I believe in universities strongly because I did indeed experience a great one, and I know many people who had their own great experiences as well. At my university, I saw and experienced all of the things you mention. All of these unserious offenses should have distracted me from my academic focus, but they did not. They only enhanced it and helped form me into the person I am today, and I strongly, unequivocally believe that I am better for it.