This volume contains 19 papers on the current status of the research university particularly in light of diminished federal research support and of the opportunities and perils of the larger, international educational stage. The papers are: (1) "Balancing Acts: Dilemmas of Choice Facing Research Universities" (Jonathan R. Cole); (2) "The Politics of Ambivalence: Diversity in the Research Universities" (Neil J. Smelser); (3) "Rationality and Realism, What Is at Stake?" (John R. Searle); (4) "Making Choices in the Research University" (Donald Kennedy); (5) "Presidential Leadership" (Steven Muller); (6) "Competition and the Research Universities" (Stephen M. Stigler); (7) "The Mission of the Research University" (Nannerl O. Keohane); (8) "The Place of Teaching in the Research University" (Frank H. T. Rhodes); (9) "Can the Research University Adapt to a Changing Future?" (Walter E. Massey); (10) "America's Research Universities under Public Scrutiny" (Kenneth Prewitt); (11) "In Defense of the Research University" (Seymour Martin Lipset); (12) "The Research University as a Setting for Undergraduate Teaching" (Adrienne Jamieson and Nelson W. Polsby); (13) "Current Criticisms of Research Universities" (Harvey Brooks); (14) "The Appropriate Scale of the Health Sciences Enterprise" (William C. Richardson); (15) "Federal Science Policy and Universities: Consequences of Success" (Rodney W. Nichols); (16) "Governing the Modern University" (Robert M. Rosenzweig); (17) "The Distinction and Durability of American Research Universities" (Francis X. Sutton); (18) "Knowledge without Borders? Internationalization of the Research Universities" (Eugene B. Skolnikoff); and (19) "The Research University: Notes toward a New History" (Stephen R. Graubard). Includes an index. Most papers contain references. (JB)