The refusal of the U.S. Supreme Court to consider an appeal by plaintiffs in the long-running Ayers v. Fordice case has given Mississippi state officials breathing room to prove that a controversial college admissions plan is not reducing access for Blacks to the state's public university system.

Despite drops in the numbers of incoming Black freshmen, statistics show that overall Black enrollment in Mississippi public universities is higher than ever before and state officials are praising that progress.

"We're very pleased that our minority enrollment is increasing," says one state university administrator.

However, this news is providing little solace to the plaintiffs in the Ayers v. Fordice case. They consider the drop in Black freshmen enrollments to be unacceptable and damaging.

Enrollment of African American freshmen in Mississippi's eight public universities dropped by 8.3 percent to 2,560 students from 1996-97 to 1997-98 while the total number of African American students increased by 1.8 percent to 19,254 students during the same period. From 1995-96 to 1996-97, Black freshman enrollment fell seventeen percent while total Black enrollment increased by 3.6 percent at the eight public universities.

In the latest development of the twenty-two year old desegregation battle over Mississippi's higher education system, the Supreme Court last month declined to consider an appeal by the plaintiffs, bowing instead to a Justice Department opinion that the case was too "premature" for the court to review it a second time.

Plaintiffs have argued that revise college admission standards are causing "irreparable" harm to your Black who have failed to gain admission to Mississippi public colleges. They contend that there are hundreds of Blacks being rejected who might have gained admission to the college system under old admission standards.

In contrast, Mississippi officials say there has been a surge of Black students matriculating into the public universities.