Vital contributions in each of these areas are made, of course, by the Commonwealth’s remarkable array of independent colleges and universities. Indeed, there are few states that do not envy us our unique strength in private higher education. But it is not enough. And ironically, the strength of our private institutions may even have blinded us to the need for equally vigorous public campuses.

But there can be no doubt now that Massachusetts faces a daunting challenge with one hand tied behind its back. Public institutions that served our state well in earlier times are not equipped to respond to the demands we place upon them today. What was “good enough” in the past will be inadequate in the future.

This realization is sobering, but more sobering still is the sluggishness with which we have responded to so clear a threat to our future well-being. Sixteen years ago the issue was placed squarely before us by the “Saxon” Commission, a blue-ribbon panel of national leaders convened to consider the future of the University of Massachusetts. While acknowledging Massachusetts’ early leadership in mini-computers and other first-generation technologies of the knowledge economy, the Commission nonetheless warned that we risked becoming the “victims of our own success”: