[waterheater]

For a ten year old article, it holds up remarkably well. Grant writing and academic research are typically divergent skill sets. Since research grants (the vast majority from DHHS, NSF, and DoD) have become a major source of revenue for universities, the most valuable faculty to a university are those who acquire grants, leading universities to hire faculty who will likely acquire many grants. These faculty select for similar students, and the cycle continues. Because pure mathematics research is intrinsically resource-minimal, the same paradigm doesn't work over there.

In a possible reflection of that reality, I have a strong feeling that, on average, university biology departments are housed in much newer and nicer buildings than university mathematics departments.