Changes on way for schools across nation

Ann Arbor, Mich. ÷ The U.S. Supreme Court handed the University of Michigan only a partial victory Monday, but many other colleges had more to celebrate.

A university's ability to consider the race of an applicant, until yesterday, had depended on its geographic location. Lower court decisions had banned affirmative action in Texas, Georgia Louisiana, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi.

University of Texas law Prof. Douglas Laycock said all that has now changed - at least for Texas, unable to consider race since the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals' 2000 decision in the Texas v. Hopwood case.

"Hopwood is gone," Laycock said.

÷ U-Wire

UA researchers need depressed volunteers

The University of Arizona College of Medicine department of psychiatry in Tucson is seeking participants for a study of a promising treatment approach for chronic depression that combines psychotherapy and antidepressant medication.

"The past decade has witnessed significant advances in the treatment of chronic depression, especially the success of antidepressant medications," says Dr. Alan J. Gelenberg, professor and head of the UA psychiatry department and principal investigator for the study.

"Currently, when patients fail to improve significantly with an antidepressant medication, psychiatrists either prescribe a different medication, supplement the initial medication with another or supplement the medication with psychotherapy. Studies of patients with non-chronic depression and preliminary data from a recent multi-site study of chronic depression suggest that the combination of a specific psychotherapy and medication may be a particularly useful strategy."UA psychiatry researchers are joining colleagues at seven other academic medical centers throughout the U.S. in a study comparing two types of psychotherapy, in combination with a change in medication versus a medication change alone, in chronically depressed people who have not responded well to initial treatment with antidepressant medication.

÷ UA News Service