When the U.S. Supreme Court takes up "Fisher v. Texas" in the fall--its first major consideration of affirmative action policies in higher education since 2003--scholars, legal experts and university administrators say the policies that are the basis of affirmative action in the nation's colleges and universities may be coming to an end. While acknowledging the impossibility of predicting the court's decision, Los Angeles City College President Jamillah Moore--the author of "Race and College Admissions: A Case for Affirmative Action"--thinks that the addition since 2003 of four new members to the nine-member court, most of whom are considered more conservative than their predecessors, means that affirmative action policies "may not have a warm reception by the court." Much has changed since the 2003 "Grutter v. Bollinger" decision, which found that colleges and universities could use race as a factor in admissions decisions but could not use a rigid point system to increase minority enrollment, as per the Supreme Court's decision in the "Gratz v. Bollinger" case, which was argued concurrently with "Grutter." There are many misconceptions about how race is and isn't used to determine who gains acceptance to the nation's colleges and universities. Historically, populations were excluded from some institutions of higher learning based on race and gender. Affirmative action policies were designed and put in place to "level the playing field" for those populations that have historically been discriminated against.