Faculty Profile: Troy Thomas
By Kimberly Anastas
Dr, Troy Thomas, assistant
professor of humanities and art, will
spend 5 months in Rome to gather
research on the 17th-century artist Cara
vaggio,.
Thomas, who is in his 13th
year at The Pennsylvania State Uni
versity at Harrisburg, will be on
sabbatical from May 1988 until August
1989 to gather information for his book
entitled Caravaggio and the Counter
Reformation, which he hopes to publish
in 1991.
Thomas, who said that "teach
ing is [his] idea of heaven on earth,"
earned his bachelor's fine arts, as a
painter. He received his second master's
degree and his doctorate in art history.
Thomas said he has been doing
research on Caravaggio since 1981 when
he attended a National Endowment for
Humanities (NEH) summer conference
and worked with Howard Hibbard, an
"acknowledged expert" on Caravaggio.
Thomas said that "Caravaggio is [his]
fust love in terms of research."
According to Thomas, Cara
vaggio lived an unusual, violent life. He
said that Caravaggio began a police
record at age 29, killed a man six years
later in 1606, and fled from pciice until
his death at age 38.
During his years on the run,
Caravaggio created many "gruesome"
paintings that featured his own face, said
Thomas. For example, he did a self
portrait of the severed head of Goliath,
which, according to Thomas, has "fas
cinated psychologists to think that a
man would portray himself in this
manner."
Thomas said he's "not particu
larly interested in psychoanalyzing
Caravaggio but [he is] fascinated with
the speculations that the severed head
[symbolizes] the impotency of the
male."
Thomas said that his "own
research is less speculative and perhaps
less fascinating in that [he's] dealing
more with research on how to account
for this new style of realistic art in
religious terms."
The fact that Caravaggio led
such a violent life, said Thomas, has
Murder of Lehigh Coed Leads to Security Information Act
By Jan Travers
If legislation recently introduced
in the state House of Representative
passes, it will be mandatory for college
campuses to release security information
to prospective students and their parents.
The bill, introduced on
November 2, by Richard McClatchy, Jr.,
Republican Chairman of Appropriations
Committee, comes as a result of the
brutal rape and murder of a Lehigh
University student in April 1986.
Jeanne Anne Clery, 19, was attacked and
strangled in her dormitory room by
another Lehigh student.
Later investigation showed that
Clery's murderer gained entrance to the
dormitory because all three automatically
Dr. Troy Thomas
indicated to some researchers that he was
not interested in religion.
Thomas said Caravaggio "fo
cused on naturalistic realism" rather than
trying to "idealize forms." He also said
that there are those who see "no mystical
or religious side of Caravaggio's art, that
his paintings seem. secular and modem in
character."
Thomas said that his "research
is to examine the art in light of the
Counter-Reformation of [Caravaggio's]
time and fit his art into a tradition of
religious symbolism and explain how
his art does indeed deal with issues that
were central to religious thought in his
time."
Thomas has gained recognition
for the publication of two articles on
Caravaggio. The first article appeared in
the December 1985 issue of "Art Bul
letin," and the other one will appear in a
1988 issue of "Studies in Iconography."
The Institute of the Arts and
Humanistic Studies (lAHS) of The
Pennsylvahia State University has
awarded Thomas a grant to help sponsor
his research in Rome. He also received a
grant from the National Endowment for
the Humanities (NEH).
For anyone interested in learn
ing more about Caravaggio, Thomas
will be teaching a course called Masters
of Art next semester. This course will
focus on three artists from the 17th
century, including Michelangelo, Ber
nini, and, of course, Caravaggio.
Thomas will also be teaching a
course called Modern Art next semester.
locking doors were propped open by her
fellow students. In addition, no security
personnel were stationed at the dorm
entrance.
Moved to action by unanswered
questions of how this could have
happened, Clery's parents, Connie and
Howard Clery of Rosemont, PA, began
investigating on their own, security at
Pennsylvania's colleges and universities.
"Parents expect their sons and
daughters to live in a safe environment
while attending college. They assume
the climate is secure and that property
protective measures have been taken,"
said McClatchy.
"The sad fact is that parents are
woefully uninformed about crimes on
campuses and what security precautions
Around Capital College
By Judy L. Hricak
Questions: What do you think it's going to take to get more student involve
ment on campus?
nMF=PMMTWW7M'irZWMM
Marty Jordan - There needs to be more and better publicity of events
Kevin Clark - The commuters should get more involved. There also
should be better planned activities on the weekends so people stay here
Jeff Umberger - This campus needs the creation of a joint student center,
comparable to the one at HACC, where both commuters and residents can
get together. Everything should be centralized to bring everyone together.
Todd Hamm aker - Lots of returning students already have lives estab
lished off campus. Being an upper-division college, it's hard to get students
involved.
Maria Rusynyk - Lots of people are commuters and live separate lives off
campus. I don't think that anything can be done about it.
Dave Skok - There should be activities that the students want to do
Steve J. - Students should stay on campus for the weekend
Carol Kilko - Things need to be advertised better. Each bulletin board
should be designated for certain things.
Angi Jones - The activities need to be more interesting for the students
Ramo Lord - The barrier between commuters and on-campus students
needs to be broken.
Eileen Heckman - When activities are planned, they should be publicized
better.
Erin Jablonski - Students should take advantage of what is offered instead
of complaining about it.
Deann Hess - Capital needs a more committed student body to student
activities.
Michelle Sutton - Less student segmentation
Dale Zartman - Brainwashing
Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Capital Times. If
you have a question you would like answered, please drop it in the Capital
Times comment box located in the stairwell off the lobby.
have been taken," he added.
According to comments made
by Howard Clery during the introduction
of the College and University Security
Information Act, the "majority of
colleges do not divulge their crime
statistics to prospective students and
parents when asked."
In an effort to help prospective
students question campus security and
crime rate, the Clery's have designed a
College Security Questionaire. To date,
they have filled requests for over 5,000
questionaires from people in over 10
states.
If the Security Information Act
is adopted, all institutions of higher
education will be required to furnish a
printed brochure to all prospective
students about campus security and
crime statistics. Failure to comply will
result in a fine of up to $lO,OOO.
omeworkers Wanted! Top '
Pay! C.I. 121 24th Ave., N.W.
Suite 222, Norman, OK 73069
ir/////Z///jilifl
/ TYPISTS
Hundreds weekly at home! #
/ Write P.O. Box 17
/ Clark, NJ 07066 4,
il 'ffff 'ff Mffffe r#