Cue, you are indeed a swinging pendulum and yes, paying more gratitude to free markets and Darwin would be extremely helpful if you would like to see both Chicago’s eminence and endowment improve which you clearly seem to want.
With respect to your latest comments on Reed and St. John’s “as examples of schools that can avoid market segmentation, and can still enjoy healthy metrics and solid finances.,” are you really aware of their current metrics? Their metrics in terms of rankings, admit rates, yield rates, and public awareness are terrible, actually worse than terrible. And if you are paying any attention to demographic trends and financial metrics, it’s more likely that they go out of business in the next 20 years than they survive.
You really should stop mentioning these soon-to-be dinosaurs as examples of academic virtue because Adam Smith and Darwin have it right.