I see three possible explanations: 1. Ideological brainwashing of academia (trite and boring) 2. Self-selection: brown-nosers re naturally attracted to elite unis (possible - just like sadistic pricks are naturally attracted to police work) 3. Social role playing triggered by academic training.
The third explanation was suggested by Kundera in "The Joke" - young people are offered a cognitive illusion that they can achieve anything they want and change the world - an illusion that is fostered by academic training and exploited by political parties. That is why according to Kundera so many students were attracted to communist parties in the post WW2 Eastern Europe.
One aspect of this "can reach the stars" mentality is hostility to social tethers that may hold the aspiring young star from achieving his (it is mostly males who fall for this delusion) goals. Hence their propensity to attack the "old." Combine this with the brown-noser personality - sucking up to the faculty and authority - and manipulations by political parties that direct this hatred of the social tethers on safe targets, such as unpopular minorities, foreigners, or social groups with little power - and you have your prototype Hitlerjugend, Komsomol, Red Guard or young Republicans and bloggers stomping on the faces of people designated by authorities as enemies of the people, progress, or a new brave world order.
-- Wojtek
"An anarchist is a neoliberal without money."