Considering what they do, I haven't seen that much out of wack at Wikipedia.
They strike me as a virtual chautauqua.
What was Chautauqua? Theodore Roosevelt called it "the most American thing in America," Woodrow Wilson described it during World War I as an "integral part of the national defense," and William Jennings Bryan deemed it a "potent human factor in molding the mind of the nation." Conversely, Sinclair Lewis derided it as "nothing but wind and chaff and...the laughter of yokels," William James found it "depressing from its mediocrity," and critic Gregory Mason dismissed it as "infinitely easier than trying to think." However Chautauqua was characterized, it elicited strong reactions and emotions.
Yep, sounds like Chautauqua to me.