[pyuser583]

It can be done - I went to a college that did it.

There are extreme downsides - for many colleges athletics is a money-maker. So is administering IP. There's is also lots of real estate, which appreciates value, but needs maintenance.

The big reason for all the extras is that it makes the school known, in a very big and important way. They host conferences, have archives that receive donations, give out awards.

Donors give all sorts of weird tasks - and funding to achieve them.

Modern colleges are so many different things.

There is a subset of colleges that adopt the "keep it simple" approach, but they often run into lots of trouble. The big problem is without doing tons of stuff, people forget they exist.

It's a bit like drug companies advertising at the super bowl. They hate doing it, but don't have a choice.