View source for Leslie:1993

Stuart Leslie discusses "steeples of excellence," a phrase he attributes to Stanford electrical engineering professor Frederick Terman. Stanford and MIT (and Georgia Tech and Texas and USC) used post-WWII military money to build quickly science and engineering departments that would rise to the level of renown of Harvard. These schools intentionally created a system where they would be at the forefront of everything from basic science to classified military applications in certain fields. [Chapter 1, 2]
Leslie cites administrators becoming aware that niche, wealthy pursuits, such as SLAC, at research universities, were usurping school-wide priorities, having a chilling effect on the general pursuit of a good education. [p. 186-187]