Despite recent court rulings striking down racial preference laws, such programs have rarely been terminated and most are still going strong.

• In 1994, a federal appeals court struck down a program of blacks-only academic scholarships at the University of Maryland, but observers say the university has apparently kept the race-based scholarships by shrouding the selection process in secrecy.

• The University of Houston has reportedly vowed to continue race-based scholarship programs regardless of a warning from the Texas attorney general that state-funded institutions should stop using race preferences.

• A white woman who applied in 1992 to attend the University of Texas law school and was turned down in favor of less-qualified minority applicants is still waiting to be admitted -- despite a favorable ruling on her case in a federal appeals court.

• The U. S. Department of Justice continues to defend race-based federal programs favoring minorities in defense and highway construction programs in cases in New Mexico, Minnesota and Utah.

The "Section 8(a)" federal contract set-aside program awarded $5.8 billion in fiscal 1995 to minority- and female-owned firms. One-quarter of that went to just fifty companies -- at an average contract price of over $29 million apiece.

Source: David A Price, "Affirmative Action Shenanigans," Investor's Business Daily, February 10, 1997.