The US Census Bureau reveals that although there are more than 41.3 million Latinos in the US as on 2004--about 14 percent of the population, only a very small percentage of them attend the country's elite colleges. A large part of the problem is that, like most of the nation, elite colleges and universities have little awareness of the intricacies of Hispanic civilization north, south, and east of the Rio Grande. This article discusses the reasons why elite colleges and universities failed in recruiting Latino students: (1) issue of language; (2) lack of Latino representation; (3) relying on a short list of qualified students--determined by SAT scores--form the College Board; and (4) most presidents, deans and trustees of elite colleges are not Latino. To bring the fact that elite institutions do such a poor job in recruiting Latino students into the light, the author suggests that it is vital to set up a task force that will go beyond the efforts of individual institutions.