Even so, the high court ruling sent administrators scrambling to find an acceptable substitute for the existing programs. "So much of what everyone was waiting on was based on the Supreme Court providing everybody with guidance," Dr. Brown said. Instead of positive direction, the Supreme Court's July 1 action sent administrators scrambling for ways around the thorny dilemma of establishing diversity without violating civil rights.

"The next six weeks to two months will be spent trying to figure out what will be the shape of admissions and academic and financial support programs," she said. Her attitude was echoed throughout the academe in the hours just after the court refused to hear the Hopwood case. The American Association of University Professors, in a statement issued just after the court's action, said it regrets that the Supreme Court's refusal to review the Hopewood decision may create uncertainty for colleges and universities attempt to fashion legally sound affirmative action programs to recruit and retain qualified minority students and urges institutions to continue such efforts."

Harvard Law professor Christopher Edley said the court's approach to sensitive racial cases recently expose a weakness in the Rehnquist court. "They can't seem to figure out how to deal with difference," he said, referring to court's actions when asked to review lower court rulings on race.

Texas Southern Law School professor Alvin O. Chambliss, lawyer for the plaintiff in the Ayers vs. Fordice case, said he is eager for the high court to review affirmative action in the Ayers case. "I'm not happy that the Supreme Court denied (review) but it's not a funeral either," he said.

"The Black colleges were not at the table in this higher education desegregation case disguised as an affirmative action and we believe that the Supreme Court would be in a better position to review affirmative action in the Ayers vs. Fordice case," he said. "You have a record of over 300,000 pages. You've got the ebb and flow, affirmative action since 1960 and importantly Black students are at the table in the Ayers case," he said.