(FORTUNE Magazine) – Madonna may not seem like she belongs in the same halls as Shakespeare and Plato, but in recent years she has become one of the hottest items in academia. In classrooms from Houston to New York and in scholarly papers . . . academics and students are probing the meaning of pop culture's most famous woman . . . Such interest in Madonna doesn't go over well in all circles . . . The head of an organization of traditional scholars calls it ''evidence of . . . decay in the academy'' . . . Such talk infuriates Madonna scholars . . . ''Madonna might look like the kind of subject where we are doing Mickey Mouse studies,'' says Bill Simon, a University of Houston sociologist. ''But to ignore such a social symptom . . . would be the height of irresponsibility.'' -- From an article in the San Diego Union-Tribune.