Last fall, with both race-conscious admissions and the Top 10 plan, blacks made up an all-time high of 5 percent of the freshman class, and Hispanics 19 percent.

The three, all white, answered an open call in 1997 from several Republican state legislators and a public interest law firm seeking volunteers to challenge the university's race-conscious admissions policies.

One is affirmative action, where the vote of a single new justice could decide whether or not race-conscious admissions in public schools and universities are permitted in America.

Further appeals will clarify whether or not race-conscious admissions to promote integration are permissible in a public or private housing development.

But if the Supreme Court phases out race-conscious admissions, the number of Asian-American students can be expected to soar, at the expense of other groups, even whites.

Much of the confusion over the court's position on race-conscious admissions can be traced back to the Bakke ruling, which was composed of six separate opinions.

The decision is the second this month to endorse race-conscious admissions decisions, though a federal appellate court struck down a similar program in Texas in 1996.

Attracting and retaining minority students is a top goal of every major university in the face of the growing legal and political threat to race-conscious admissions.

The university had devised the plan in response to a federal court ruling that struck down race-conscious admissions.

The authors' focus on selective universities illustrates what they consider an often-ignored point: the debate over race-conscious admissions is relevant only to about 25 percent of universities.