I was looking for something on the net and found an interesting article, written in 2003, on the university and its relationship to popular culture.
I think an idea presented in the article, the university as popular culture, could potentially be a very fruitful one for study. It makes me want to add another area to my reading/writing list.
Clouding the Issues by Gerald Graff may be worth your time to read.
The image is from the article and is an illustration by Victor Juhasz.