[ttobbaybbob]

are there any plausible efforts out there (eg rough equivalent of an activist investor) attempting to convince universities to curb their addiction to hiring armies of administrative employees who (often) do nothing and (often) are paid several X what a phd candidate receives as a stipend

are there any meaningful ways to change the incentives to something other than raise as much money as possible to hire more administrative employees to raise as much money as possible?

(also if my premise is flawed and there are other things that contribute significantly to the burn of universities lmk)

[hnmullany]

It is not admin staff - overheads have generally been constant as a % of other expenses. The biggest components of cost escalation are MUCH higher spending on student services (3x at Princeton in the last 20 years), library expenses, and staff benefits cost escalation.