City on a Hill

City College of New York is perhaps the longest-running, radical social experiment in American history. For one hundred and fifty years, City has been the bellwether of this nation's effort to bring the urban poor into the middle class. And as generations of immigrant children passed beneath its arched gateway and emerged as scientists, scholars, and teachers, City more than justified America's liberal faith in the transformative power of education.

But over the last few generations the dynamics and the demographics of urban poverty have changed; the barriers to assimilation have grown. City on a Hill spans these eras, telling the story of the college's difficult present against the backdrop of its fabled past. The juxtaposition forces a fundamental question: How much power do America's institutions have in the face of the cultural and economic forces that now perpetuate inner-city poverty?