Ernest A. Lynton Frank Newman, president of the Education Commission of the States, contributed a Forum piece entitled "Anatomy of the Urban University" to the third issue of this journal. In it he listed four central issues facing the leadership of metropolitan universities. Second among these, as perceived from Newman's national perspective, is "the transformation of public educa- tion" in which "the urban university must get more involved." Newman states: The greatest reform effort in the history of American education is happen- ing right now. Yet, with the exception of a handful of university people, the urban university is not playing a significant role. Universities tend to as- sume that if "they" would just do "their job," then things would change. What needs to be done more broadly is to create coalitions of business and educators who understand their joint responsibilities to education at all levels. It is "all one system." Perhaps Frank Newman's assessment of the inadequacy of the universities' involvement at this time is somewhat harsh. But most as- suredly, he is right in identifying the issue as a critical one and in urging metropolitan universities to involve themselves much more than most do at this time. That is why this entire issue of Metropolitan Universities is devoted to school-university collaboration. It contains a set of articles that indicate both what can and should be done, as well as the great difficulties which must be overcome. We are exceedingly grateful to John Goodlad, himself at the forefront of national efforts to foster university-school partnerships and to reform teacher education, for having undertaken the task of being guest editor for this issue, identifying topics and working with the authors. In addition, he has contributed an article that is much more than an "Over- view": it provides us with an ecological perspective within which all subse- quent articles can be placed. In their aggregate, the articles in this issue have implications which go well beyond the basic theme of school-university collaboration. Two clear messages emerge that are central to all aspects of the mission of metropol- itan universities. One has been stated already several times in this journal, particularly in the previous issue on "The New American Scholar." It is the urgent need to achieve greater congruence between institutional goals and priorities, on the one hand, and faculty values, commitment, and rewards, on the other. That is so central a matter to the success of metropolitan universities that it is likely to be raised again and again in the pages of this journal. 4 Metropolitan Universities/Summer 1991 There is a second message of great importance to metropolitan universi- ties that had not been articulated as often and as clearly until its appearance in several articles in the current issue. It pertains to the nature of the interaction that metropolitan universities must develop and foster with their external constituencies in all collaborative activities, be it with schools, with regional business and industry, with government offices, or with community agencies. Outreach as such is not enough. The dissemination of knowledge as such is not enough. A one-way flow of ideas is not enough. An expert-cli- ent relationship is not enough. Instead, as is so well described in this issue, one must fashion a real partnership, with a true dialogue to which each participant brings different but complementary experiences, knowledge, and perspectives. That kind of relationship is essential, but not because of some sentimental notion of equal worth and collegiality and "we're all in this together." Effective collaboration among disparate constituencies requires a hard- headed recognition that no single participant brings to the undertaking all of the necessary knowledge and experience. Each partner contributes a spe- cial expertise. One brings theoretical insights and a knowledge of the litera- ture, another the craft knowledge of the practitioner, yet others, the know-how regarding organizational and managerial issues or experience in the political process. Each of these contributions is essential to the proper formulation of problems and priorities, the assessment of alternatives and trade-offs, and the design and implementation of optimal action. In all of the metropolitan universities' many kinds of collaborative relationships with external constitu- encies-be it applied research and technology transfer in partnership with business and industry, policy analysis with government units, neighborhood development with community groups, or school improvement with school teachers and administrators-the potential for success depends on the ex- tent to which the partial contributions of each partner can be combined and integrated into a whole greater than the sum of its parts. For faculty and administrators in metropolitan universities, the need for this kind of partnership of equals poses a formidable challenge that signifi- cantly increases the difficulty of their tasks. Not only are they expected to break out of the traditional isolation of the ivory tower in order to work actively with external constituencies, but they must abandon, as well, the podium from which they disseminate a one-way flow of knowledge and, instead, work side by side with members of their external constituencies in genuinely joint explorations. Let no one underestimate either the importance or the difficulty of this. Not only does it represent a profound change in the way in which most academic professionals have been trained and socialized, but it affects, as well, their image of themselves. Especially in these times of widespread financial hardship aggravated by a lot of bashing of higher education in books and in the media, many of our colleagues find some From the Editor's Desk 5 comfort in their sense of themselves as gurulike dispensers of knowledge. Now they are being asked to bring to bear their knowledge in a very different manner, working with co-equals, each bringing different but equally neces- sary expertise. Adding this new demand on faculty to the challenges of student diversity, the need for outreach, and the other complexities of the tasks that metropol- itan universities have undertaken brings us back, in turn, to the first mes- sage mentioned earlier. These new challenges for metropolitan faculties and staff intensify the importance of bringing about a thorough revision of what academic professionals value, what is expected of them, for what they should be prepared, and for what they should be evaluated and rewarded. To date, metropolitan universities have barely begun to face up to that critical, complex, and difficult challenge. MU1991-Summer-004_page3 MU1991-Summer-005_page4 MU1991-Summer-006_page5 MU1991-Summer-007_page6