The University of North Texas at Dallas (UNT-Dallas) was conceived 10 years ago as a public institution along tried-and-true lines--a comprehensive metropolitan university meant to serve a diverse student population and to improve the economic outlook of a part of the city that prosperity has left behind. But that was before management consultants…

Urban universities present an inherent conflict for administrators who oversee campus planning and development. Some see the need to withdraw and create an academic refuge. Others believe a campus must integrate physically with the city in order to stay relevant. The two approaches cannot be more dramatically different, and they have profound…

Discusses how Georgia State University for years ignored its alumni and had little in the way of private support, but that now, like similar urban institutions, it has changed course and has a nicer campus to show for it. (EV)

Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin have invested funds and energy into their local Milwaukee communities through community development and local partnerships. Despite criticism and costs, the projects have raised institutional profiles and improved reputations. (MSE)

Discusses prospects for City University of New York in light of its recent decision to end both open admissions and remedial programs. Quotes the school's chancellor who wants to restore the school's earlier reputation for high quality general education, professional schools, and Ph.D. programs. Also notes administrative and funding concerns. (DB)

A report by the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges predicts a skill shortage, born of the mismatch between the needs of the labor market and the profile of the labor pool. A plan to enhance the future of minority students in higher education is outlined. (MLW)

Leaders of urban public universities and many state legislators are challenging the high status of states'"flagship" institutions, saying local institutions can serve local needs best, and are unwilling to defer to premier research universities in requests for general support and new programs. (MSE)

While it is a land-grant university with ambitious plans, the University of the District of Columbia faces the problems posed by its urban context, expectations, small endowment, administrative turnover, and administrative scandals. (MSE)

Faculty, staff, and students at San Francisco State University (California), most of whose lives are touched by Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), have responded by rallying to help AIDS sufferers in need, by including AIDS information in courses, offering confidential testing, and becoming sensitized to gay and related issues. (MSE)

In the wake of a black-white student fight on campus, Columbia University administrators are investigating reports of racial bias and black students have filed charges of aggravated racial harrassment and demanded establishment of an Afro-American studies program, more black faculty, and a larger black student population. (MSE)

Temple University (Pennsylvania), an urban institution, is seeking to raise academic standards and is aggressively recruiting suburban students, finding that local high schools are not of high quality. Some critics feel the institution is abandoning the black population and is recruiting white students who are more likely to be better prepared…