Jim Letts, a first-year medical student who organized the speech, said the group puts on one event per month to inform students about international health issues they might encounter. Holtan stressed the need to treat torture victims both physically and mentally. Many victims experience anxiety, poor memory and an inability to concentrate. Physical evidence of torture can be more clearly recognized. Many victims, Holtan said, have linear scars, as a result of being beaten or whipped with electrical cords or coat hangers.
Victims can also have visible deformities of the ears and feet.
A common method of torture is beating the bottoms of feet, causing deformities in the arch and extensive nerve damage. Politicians are wondering the same thing. Sen. Rod Grams, R-Minn., is the sponsor of a bill that would pump more funding into institutes like the Center for the Victims of Torture. On Saturday, Grams and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan visited the center, just off the University's East Bank campus, to promote the Survivors of Torture Support Act. Besides boosting funding, the bill proposes to change U.S. immigration policy, giving victims of torture priority among requests for political asylum, said Steve Behm, a legislative aide to Grams.