Research-intensive universities, such as the Russell Group in the UK, the Ivy League Colleges in the USA and the Sandstone Universities in Australia, enjoy particular status in the higher education landscape. They are, however, also often associated with social elitism and selectivity, and this has led to critique as higher education systems seek to widen access. This article looks at how academic staff are discursively constructed in five such institutions in South Africa through an analysis of documentation submitted as part of a national review. Three interrelated discourses are identified: a discourse of "staff as scholars" whereby research is privileged over teaching, a discourse of "academic argumentation" whereby a critical disposition is valued and is called upon by academics to resist development initiatives and a discourse of "trust" whereby it is assumed that academics share a value system and should thus be trusted to undertake quality teaching without interference.