I think it reflects the wide disparities in historical missions and material resources among LACs. They’re uniquely American legacies of the Puritan desire to spread Christian values among the native Americans, the isolated farm villages of New England and other “heathens” that then got swept up in the tide of materialism that engulfed The Guilded Age of the late 19th century. In many ways, they’ve been at odds with themselves ever since. The same institutions must balance being feeder schools to the learned professions (which in its early form included preparation for the ministry); constantly revitalizing the traditional liberal arts as well as keeping a hand in the leading edges of Basic Science, all while hoping that to some extent their efforts contribute to the greater good of society.
Some of them do better on one end of the scale than the other.