Student senator says students concerned about campus safety

A student senator held a safety-training workshop for students last night out of concern for students' safety on campus after the College of Nursing shootings and sexual misconduct in the Main Library.

Students have told student senator Adam Bronnenkant, who organized the safety presentation, that they don't feel as safe on campus these days, Bronnenkant said.

He does not know how many students have contacted him out of concern for their safety, but said concern for safety seems to be a common concern.

"After the perverts in library, harassing phone calls, the event with the College of Nursing, it is beneficial to educate the students about how to protect themselves," Bronnenkant said.

Representatives from the University of Arizona Police Department, the Women's Resource Center and the Oasis Center gave presentations on campus safety.

The Oasis Center conducts personal protection training sessions that teach students to avoid dangerous situations involving sexual harassment and stalking, said Chad Sniffen, an Oasis Center worker who conducts training sessions.

"Lately we have done classes on request·some of our largest sessions have been with 50 people," Sniffen said.

Oasis Center plans on offering "full contact:" self-defense courses next semester to give students hands-on education to fend off attackers, Sniffen said.

UAPD has been working with the library to improve security after it was evacuated last month, said UAPD Cmdr. Kevin Haywood.

Students who are suspicious of their peers or feel they are in harmed should inform their professor, the dean of their college or UAPD, Haywood said.

"Everyone is on a higher sense of awareness since the College of Nursing shooting," Haywood said. "Our goal has maintained the same ÷ to make all students feel safe."

Optical science prof featured on Î60 Minutes' visual art segment

Charles M. Falco, chair of condensed matter physics, professor of optical sciences, and research professor in the Arizona Research Laboratories was featured in a segment on "60 Minutes" last Sunday, along with artist David Hockney

Hockney recently observed that certain drawings and paintings from as early as the Renaissance seemed almost "photographic" in detail. Following an extensive visual investigation of Western art from the past 1,000 years, Hockney made the revolutionary claim that artists, even of the prominence of van Eyck and Bellini, must have used optical aids. Art historians have insisted that there is no supporting evidence for such a remarkable assertion.

As a scientist, Falco shows a wealth of optical evidence to support Hockney's claim. This evidence was discovered during an unusual and remarkably productive collaboration between Hockney and Falco.

In recent presentations made over the past two years, Falco has discussed the unique properties of the "mirror lens," and its probable role in relation to Hockney's claim. The discoveries convincingly demonstrate that optical instruments were in use by artists, not scientists, nearly 200 years earlier than previously thought possible. They also account for the remarkable transformation in the reality of portraits that occurred early in the 15th century.

The New York Times has called the controversy "one of the hottest, and most contentious, topics in art history."

Lesley Stahl reports on, "Was it Done With Mirrors?" for "60 Minutes."