Extra credit for the first, legal harrassment for the second, could be the reason. I guess going to most colleges these days is sorta like being in the military when there was a draft. Like it or not, you did your job and kept your comments guarded, because you knew you'd be out in a few years.
It did not take much more for me to realize that if anyone actually found the answer to my question, his entire education would be obsolete overnight.
He did not want to even hear anyone mention that it might be a propagated energy form, much like EM radiation.