Now you ask? The gedolim in E.Y. have always been against secular studies, and the gedolim in chu”l tolerant (at least) of it, and it was never a machlokes.
One glaring difference is that Lipman wants it forced on the Chareidim, while Ner Yisroel has no problem with those, such as Lakewood talmidim, who don’t go to college.
But even besides that, there’s a long history of formal secular education being shunned in E.Y., especially in Yerushalayim, going back to the days of R’ Yosef Chaim Zonnenfeld. We really need to do research on those early days to understand the mindset. It really has to do with political realities affecting halachah, which is a possibility the OP ignores.