Undergraduate admissions and financial aid decisions for fall 1997 will be made retaining race, ethnicity and gender as factors, UC President Richard Atkinson told campus chancellors in a letter late last month. A preliminary injunction issued Dec. 23 against Proposition 209 prevents the university from implementing the proposition until U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson conducts a trial on the issue or an appellate court reverses his order. Proposition 209 bars race- and gender-based preferences in all state programs. "The injunction does not affect the university's obligation to continue to apply and enforce the regents' resolutions SP-1 and SP-2 adopted in July 1995," Atkinson said. "Therefore, the injunction has no impact on employment, contracting, and graduate and professional admissions programs, which already have been changed as a result of the regents' resolutions." Changes in undergraduate admissions are not scheduled to go into effect until spring 1998. Atkinson said the trial and appeals process aren't expected to conclude until well after the fall 1997 admissions cycle is completed this March. But an appeals court could issue an emergency stay of the injunction, likely within the next few weeks, he said. "We are aware of the need to ensure that students and their families understand the admissions criteria and to have applications processed in a timely and deliberate manner," the president said. "We will endeavor to do everything possible to avoid further changes during the admissions cycle." Proposition 209 supporters appealed the injunction Jan. 3. The Sacramento Bee reported that written arguments are scheduled over the next 10 weeks, to be followed by a hearing before a three-judge panel.