I think the profit motive thing is stupid. It only matters if the organization itself is a volunteer organization. For example, if an organization is being run

I think the profit motive thing is stupid. It only matters if the organization itself is a volunteer organization. For example, if an organization is being run by nuns, I agree that profit doesn't matter because nuns aren't allowed to own any assets or have an income (by their own profession of course). However, in a 'normal' non-profit organization, the various stakeholders (employees, grant recipients, etc) actually have a huge profit motive. To me it doesn't matter if a CEO is working to get money for investors or to pad his own pockets. at the end of the day, the incentives are the same. So, no, I don't think this matters at all. While true that universities do have space for non-commercial work (which is usually funded by outside parties like the NSF or corporations anyway), the university leadership have a huge profit-motive to get more students (via attracting to professors) to pad their own pockets. In some ways, the non-profit sector is even more self-serving than the private one. At least private companies have to seek the best for their investors, while many non-profits simply seek the best for the CEO.