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It has to do with how resources are allocated (both human and financial resources). It creates a very unhealthy environment where relationships and who has your back or not has more influence than the actual work you are able to deliver.

Stakes are too low, so people start fighting over the most meaningless things in my experience.

> Why can't it just be a place where people learn and research and support each other?

It is - for tenured professors at good schools. But getting to that point is intensely competitive, and the vast majority of people don't make it.