That’s how a letter-writer in Wednesday’s WSJ Letters section, a university professor who should know better, characterizes campus economies.

Whether the general campus environment fosters particular political or economic attitudes is a legitimate question, but the pricing of campus amenities isn’t evidence of socialism. If anything, it is evidence of sophisticated, free-market pricing.

If it’s a matter of free-market pricing, then since tuition and fees cover all of that extra, colleges and universities have no need of Federal funding or of student loan guarantees.

Research conducted at colleges and universities is a separate matter, and Federal funds, if any, should be carefully controlled. All outcomes from programs partially or fully funded by the government should be strictly in the public arena and beyond the ability of school researchers to patent or otherwise personally profit from them.