A narration of the federal Department of Education's attempt to promulgate regulations protecting minority-language students' civil rights examines the roles of federal agencies, Congress, state and local governments, the courts, civil rights groups, teacher and administrator groups, and the media in the regulatory process. An introductory section reviews the legislative, executive, and judicial branches' constitutional roles in education. Part 2 narrates legislative and judicial developments involving students with limited English proficiency (LEP) from 1964 to 1980, highlighting the roles of Congress, the Education Department (ED) and its predecessors, the courts, the Lau v. Nichols decision (1974), and the "Lau remedies" governing schools' services to LEP students from 1975 to 1980. Part 3 describes ED's proposed regulation, published in 1980, and its major features. Reactions to the proposed regulation are reported in part 4, including ED's analysis of regulatory impacts, the report of the President's regulation analysis group, Congress's veto threat, and the regulation's withdrawal. Part 5 discusses factors affecting the response to the regulation, including multicultural problems, teacher employment, teaching methods, states' rights, and media interpretations. Further factors, involving national political changes, problems in the regulation and ED, and civil rights issues, are reviewed in the final section. (RW)