The national Commission on the Future of Higher Education provides some deserved criticism of the way U.S. higher education currently works. Insofar as higher education institutions are the intellectual and economic engines that power New England, it is prudent for them to re-examine higher education in New England today from the perspective of the commission's report, "A Test of Leadership". The changes that are required do not reside in the recommendations of the Spellings Commission report, but in the commitment and wisdom of New England policymakers, business leaders, education and higher education officials whom the report calls to lead.