Possible Clues:

• Environment concerned with pursuit of research and education
• Community concerned with pursuit of education and scholarship
• Collegiate world
• University folk trained accountant the wrong way
• A rebel with intent, rising in scholarly circles
• Bill aimed surprisingly to join a world of brainy folk?
• The world of teaching
• A qualified accountant trained up in universities
• Pointed article about rising in intellectual circles
• A college article, pointed, recalled professors etc