Addressing all your most important questions and concerns.

Question: What's up with the sculpture built into the south wall of the Student Union Memorial Center near the breezeway and entrance to the UofA Bookstore? It kind of looks like an ear or a saxophone.

Answer: You know, I've always wondered that same thing, so I called up Chrissy Lieberman, campus activities and union galleries coordinator, and she told me the relief is a replica made from a plaster casting of the original sculpture/mural at the front entrance of the Memorial Student Union, the predecessor of the Student Union Memorial Center.

The $6,000 sculpture was created by R. Phillips Sanderson, then professor of art at the Arizona State College at Tempe (later to become Arizona State University). The group of figures that look something like a football confrontation on the left and right sides of the relief are meant to symbolize the "turmoil and chaos of war" and the "fatigue and futility of war," respectively. The dominating theme in the center (what you see as a saxophone) is an abstract dove hovering over the chaos, symbolizing the "desire for peace."

Costing about $1.2 million for construction and furnishings and taking 16 months to build, the Memorial Student Union was completed in 1951 during President Richard A. Harvill's term. It was built as a memorial to the students and faculty who died in World War I and World War II.

Do you have a burning question that's keeping you up tossing and turning at night? Send it to the campus detective! E-mail her at catcalls@wildcat.arizona.edu.