The purpose of this study is to assess how public higher education institutions are serving the public good at time when economic, social and environmental conditions are increasingly becoming more volatile. While by no means the only issues of concern, Zizek (2009) argues that impending ecological threats, the growing divide between the rich and the poor, the growing instances of social turmoil and political instability and the threats associated with technology are the most serious issues facing the world today. This paper employs a "gap method" to determine how higher education institutions are serving the public good. The gap method utilizes a researcher created conceptual framework to represent the more volatile factors which have the potential to impact any notion of the public (the four listed above). The framework is used to critically evaluate three strategic plans of higher education institutions in a state on the east coast of the United States.