In June 1994, Lederman attended a symposium at the University of California, Los Angeles, on challenges facing academia, at which many university administrators were present. The remarks of these officials prompted him to deliver a response, an edited version of which is reprinted here with a new introduction by Lederman.
The U.S. university system, and, in particular, the research universities, are under considerable stress. These powerful institutions for research and education emerged after World War II as a uniquely American invention that successfully blended teaching and research, in contrast to the European models in which the two activities were separate. Graduate education in the U.S. became preeminent in the world and, even today, U.S. graduate school education is one of our most successful "exports," as almost 50 percent of the population of U.S. graduate schools in mathematics, science, and engineering are populated by foreign students.
The problems facing research universities--someone ...
