This is graduation week for campuses across North Carolina, and as we celebrate this important achievement for students across the state, it is also a good time to celebrate our venerated system of higher education. But on January 16, 2015, Tom Ross, the president of the UNC System, announced he was stepping down. And then on April 16, 2015, Scott Ralls, the president of the NC Community Colleges, announced he was stepping down. Graduation is also a time to pause and reflect. On April 22, 2015, Higher Education Works and the Harvard Club of the Research Triangle invited Tom Ross, Scott Ralls, Sen. Josh Stein (D-Wake), and Sen. Jeff Tarte (R-Mecklenburg) to discuss the future of public higher education in North Carolina. Sen. Stein and Sen. Tarte have created a Higher Education Working Group – a bipartisan, bicameral group of legislators to emphasize the importance of higher education in our past, present, and future. Emma Battle moderates the discussion. This week, EdNC presents this conversation to you – the leaders and the issues. We ask that you consider our state constitutional provision on higher education, and we ask that you consider these issues in light of the leadership transitions at hand. Sen. Tarte says, "We have the best and brightest.... We need to protect that and continue to invest in that and make it the envy of the world." Tell us what you think. What are the challenges and opportunities that you see for higher education in North Carolina?