Isn't this whole argument about academic institutions penalizing people for citing encyclopedias missing the point?
If the Wikipedia article is any good it should cite sources, and if you're at a university you have access to those sources and should check them and cite those where appropriate.
Suppose two of my students turn in essays on the Milgram experiment, one citing Wikipedia as the source and obviously relying on the Wikipedia article on that experiment, the other citing Milgram's paper and Blass' fairly recent critiques, and demonstrating a knowledge of the material. Well odds are that both went to Wikipedia first, but the second one actually did his homework.