Blasphemous academic — an eye-opener! (7)
I believe the answer is:
profane
'blasphemous' is the definition.
(I know that blasphemous can be written as profane)
'academic an eye-opener' is the wordplay.
'academic' becomes 'prof' (short for professor).
'opener' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letter of 'eye' is 'e'.
'prof'+'an'+'e'='PROFANE'
(Other definitions for profane that I've seen before include "Desecrate" , "Sacrilegious or blasphemous" , "vulgar" , "Blasphemous, irreligious" , "Treat with irreverence" .)