THE UNIVERSITY ROLE IN THE IMPROVEMENT OF INNER-CITY EDUCATION

This article's purpose is twofold: (a) to discuss the relationship bet ween the university and the city and (b) to explore implications for t he university's role in improving inner-city education. This analysis is primarily from the viewpoint of the university. The ''city'' is vie wed here loosely as the totality of the local environment, including c ity government, the schools, community organizations, corporations, bu sinesses, and neighborhoods near campus, that is, what lies locally ou tside the university. This article assumes there is such an institutio n as an ''urban university''-located within a major city and having a significant level of interchange with it. The urban university's bound aries spill out into its immediate neighborhood, the inner city. A sig nificant percentage of the urban university's students and employees a re from underrepresented racial and ethnic minority groups, many livin g in the city. And the urban university has a special commitment to in ner-city education.