The global economic crisis has accelerated the fear that the United States' international power is fading. It has also made clear the need for American higher education to engage more deeply with the rest of the world, not run from it. That was the consensus among a group of presidents and provosts who met in New York this month as part of "Higher Education in a Global Society," a two-day conference sponsored by the TIAA-CREF Institute. The discussions were wide-ranging and covered study abroad, foreign-student enrollment, curricular development, visa policy, and the challenges of developing partnerships abroad. Several presidents talked about the importance of continuing international programs in the face of budget challenges and public skepticism over money spent on foreign projects and students, rather than domestic ones.