This study was undertaken to explore the potential role the Office of Education could play in helping urban universities respond more appropriately than they have in the past to urban problems. It was assumed that urban crises have created new imperatives for all urban universities and urban universities face pressures from both acknowledged and unacknowledged constituencies. Chapter 1 describes the selection of 11 urban universities to participate in the study and sketches their efforts to become more involved in urban problems. Chapter 2 examines demands on the university by the surrounding community, militant students, city officials and activist faculty. Chapter 3 examines expectations of urban universities from a historical perspective. Chapter 4 posits a pattern of faculty behavior emerging from the historical conflicts. Chapter 5 returns to the demands in Chapter 2 and tests them against the picture developed in Chapters 3 and 4 on university response. Chapter 6, based on a 3-day conference designed to bring together constituency representatives and others committed to change in urban universities, looks at the problem of building effective coalitions. Communication problems proved so enormous that the task of creating networks of communication in individual cities became the first step. The report ends with a description of one university's attempt to create mechanisms for real communication among diverse viewpoints. (JS)