When these inequities began to change in the 20th century, due in part to the sweeping court-ordered integration following Brown v. Board of Education and the simultaneous expansion of public colleges and universities, all citizens began to gain access to educational achievement and, as a result, true access to the American power structure. The powerful elites took notice and were not always willing to share control over the political system. Over the years, their resistance to equal opportunity has continued despite numerous court decisions and significant legislation (e.g., the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964). And it has grown increasingly organized and well funded. Identified as the "anti-egalitarians," individuals hostile to the tenets of American liberty, these oligarchs understand that by restricting educational access to the rich and white, by targeting public investment in higher education, and by attacking such democratic concepts as need-based aid, academic freedom, and shared governance, they can effectively restrict participation in the American governmental system. These are the people who seek to destroy public institutions of higher education. As incomprehensible as such an agenda may appear to those who support equality, respected researchers have been issuing similar warnings for more than 20 years. This article reemphasizes their warning of a very significant threat to public education in America and issues an urgent call to action for all educators and the public as well. Allowing anti-egalitarians to destroy public higher education in the U.S. would be a tragedy. Waiting for someone else to solve this problem would be a costly mistake. (Contains 36 endnotes.)