Since the mid-1960s, some affluent white schools, both public and private, have made efforts to welcome low-income students of color into their student bodies. However, studies of these efforts have usually ignored the complex and deep ambivalence experienced by many young people of color in white middle-class institutions. This paper attempts to gain insight into the challenges that young men of color face in education, with a focus on faculty and student development, and to clarify the phenomenon of institutional inclusion and exclusion. It describes a university-school collaborative effort to create a more inclusive school environment at an urban high school of 1,110 male students. The school increased its minority student population from less than 5 percent to 12 percent in 1991. A new Director of Diversity, a graduate student of color at Boston College, the second member of the partnership, was hired to work collaboratively with faculty, students, and a college faculty member. Methods included: (1) observation; (2) interviews with teachers, students, and parents; (3) document analysis; and (4) an examination of demographic, political, and economic statistics. Findings suggest that university-secondary school collaborative research raises the level of discussion necessary to form inclusive school communities. The following common themes have emerged from qualitative case studies of school segregation: the dynamics of interracial relationships; the need for a sense of home; the importance of adults of color; the dynamics of social-class stratification; the implicit model of cultural assimilation in schools; and the inability or unwillingness of the majority to understand the perspectives of the minority. Contains 41 references. (LMI)