While the arrogance and self importance of the Academented is legendary, that story is a myth.
I'll have to do some looking around as the story is from the Navy Chaplain site. But, myth or not, the message is a good one. It may not be the Stanford's that belong in this "story", but most of us have run into the auto-put-down situation....either ourselves or someone we know.
You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who they think can do nothing for them.
Holds true no matter who you are.