At the university I attended back in the '70s I actually saw the opposite happening. At that time, Chomsky's "Generative Syntax" theory was being replaced by "Generative Semantics". I was minoring in theoretical linguistics at the time and remember my professors complaining that Chomsky was fighting against any theories that were an improvement on his own.
He still is.
I should have been more specific.
Within his own discipline, Chomsky's theories are largely discredited, but a disproportionate amount of time and effort are spent studying his work.
But among generic academics and collegians, the vast majority of whom only have a vague idea about linguistics as a science, Chomsky is seen as a great mind from an area so much more intellectually intimidating than their own field, which is usually polisci, lit or "cultural studies."