This article contributes to recent debates about public sociology by considering the potential harmful consequences of seeking legitimacy for committed scholarship within academic institutions. After discussing public scholarship's place within the corporate university, we reflect on how institutionalizing “scholarship with commitment” might create routine practices and standardized expectations that could discourage organic interactions with various publics. Feminism's role in the academy exemplifies the consequences of institutionalizing committed scholarship. Drawing on insights from feminist and symbolic interactionist traditions and writing from a Canadian perspective, we discuss promising strategies for resisting the stagnation and/or habitualization of public and committed scholarship.