Leaning Tower of Peace?

Architects considered installing the new J. William Fulbright Memorial Peace Fountain at the University of Arkansas under cover of darkness.

The reason?

They were afraid the blistering August sun might cause one side of the 40-foot-tall bronze statue to swell, causing it to lean a tad after being erected in the center of the fountain between Old Main and Vol Walker Hall.

Bernard Madison, dean of the UA’s Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, says architect Maurice Jennings was concerned that the tower wouldn’t be vertical if it were installed during the heat of the day.

“They’re just trying to avoid any chance of putting any bends in it, if you will,” says David McKee, who is Jennings’ partner since E. Fay Jones retired.

The 9,000-pound monument to former U.S. Sen. J. William Fulbright of Fay-etteville was to arrive on the evening of Aug. 6 and be erected in the granite fountain base in the early morning of Aug. 7.

“Everybody’s comfortable with the fact that it will be the early morning,” says McKee. “We just didn’t want it to be 2 o’clock in the afternoon with these 100-degree temperatures. The critical phase is going from horizontal to vertical.”

McKee says the monument represents Fulbright’s efforts to coalesce ideas from around the world.

“Symbolically, it represents a geyser — a fountain, a flowing of water that represents the Fulbright peace program’s outreach to the rest of the world,” says McKee.

Water from the fountain will resemble an artesian well as it cascades slowly down the steps of the fountain, he says.

A proposed life-sized statue of Fulbright will be erected nearby sometime in 1999.

The entire project is expected to cost about $900,000.

The tower and fountain were designed by Fayetteville architect E. Fay Jones. Baldwin & Shell Construction Co. constructed the monument. A sculptor will be hired to make the statue.

Fulbright died in 1995 after suffering a stroke.