That's fine and even important, but there are huge swathes of the American population that don't understand the distinction between research professors and folk

That's fine and even important, but there are huge swathes of the American population that don't understand the distinction between research professors and folks like teachers, instructors, and lecturers. They get painted with one brush and, in this instance, are used to score political points with grossly ill-informed voters who have somehow decided that they don't like universities.