Reading some 19th c. criticism on the Greek drama. All immensely interesting and valuable, much more so than the (often radical feminist) tripe that I was asked to purchase and discuss during Ph.D. work. When I arrived, I had a notion of working intensively on an Oresteia, and learning absolutely everything I could about the Greek drama. Several months later, I floated a notion to do a scholarly edition of the masque by Milton in the rare books collection, which hadn't yet had a proper scholarly edition. Both impulses were met with shrugs. They were more interested in building networks of personal domination and influence than the scholarship itself, a fact evident from their scholarship; anyone who manages to locate their CVs would likely agree with that. At one point they did suggest that, since I had managed to get an outdoor Shakespeare festival off the ground in the last Midwestern city I'd studied in, I should try to network and tap my connections to get funding to revive an outdoor ampitheatre on campus. At which I shrugged, and continued to try to do as much work in Philosophy, English, and History as I could. (Freedom to take courses across the university was one of the points that I had insisted on before coming, and unlike the funding guarantees, they didn't welch on that one.)
The difference between what the state universities are and what they seem to be (the Saturday football view) is quite significant. Largest landowner in the state, sometimes. Like some of the most excessive English monasteries before the sack and plunder in reaction. But putting things in plain terms like that can be perilous for one's future job prospects.