Many academics get annoyed by their colleagues who engage with the public. This could be writing op-eds, doing TED talks, advising think tanks, doing media interviews, and writing books that are accessible to the public.

Before diving into analysis, let’s define some terms. We can call academics who don’t engage with the public, “traditional academics” and academics who do engage with the public, “public academics.” I use the term “public academic” instead of “public intellectual” because public intellectuals can be outside of academia. For example, public intellectuals can be journalists, podcasters, writers, etc., with an intellectual approach. I want to focus on the distinction inside of academia.

Traditional academics get annoyed by public academics for three main reasons: for selling out, wasting time or doing work that isn’t serious. Here’s why none of these reasons make sense:

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