If America's public colleges and universities are supposed to be true democratic engines of opportunity and social mobility, their student body and graduates should at least mirror the racial and ethnic demographics of the state in which they reside. Public institutions should reduce -- rather than exacerbate -- race-based inequalities and advance…

The United States has almost 2,000 public postsecondary institutions, which provide more than 13 million undergraduates (nearly 2.8 million of them Latinos) with what is perhaps the key to economic security in the modern economy -- a college education. As the primary and most affordable access points to postsecondary education, these institutions…