The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor said today that was delaying action on any applications for admission until January 10, while it figures out how to comply with a ballot measure, Proposal 2, that bans affirmative-action preferences by state agencies, including public colleges. The measure, approved by 58 percent of Michigan voters in November, was originally scheduled to take effect on December 23, but three public universities in the state worked out a deal with Michigan’s attorney general under which Proposal 2 would go into effect on July 1, 2007, allowing all applications in the current admissions cycle to be considered under the same set of standards.

A federal district-court judge approved the deal in December, but a three-judge panel of a federal appeals court rejected it last Friday, ordering the measure to take effect immediately. The university’s announcement today buys it some time to work out its next move, even as it said it would “certainly … obey the law.”

Although university officials attacked Proposal 2 during the election campaign and initially vowed to continue their fight against it, the university has not sued to overturn the requirements of the ballot measure. But outside activists have filed two lawsuits seeking to block enforcement of Proposal 2.