A six-member Committee on the Visual Environment was responsible for the selection. The sculpture was obtained to comply with a city ordinance that required one per cent of all expenditures for city-assisted construction to be used to purchase art.
The committee members are Architecture Professor Holmes Perkins, History of Art Professor John McCoubrey, the Dean of the Fine Arts School Peter Shepheard, Vincent Kling, a prominent Philadelphia architect and Mrs. H. Gates Lloyd, a local art connoisseur. One student also serves on the committee, but last year's representative wasn't at too many meetings, according to Perkins.
Samuel Adams Greene, former director of The Institute for Contemporary Art and an expert on outdoor sculpture, is the committee's advisor. He gives the members suggestions about what works might be suitable. They then view several different works until a decision is made and negotiations with the artists are started. This procedure was followed with both Lieberman and Tony Smith, whose "We Lost" graces College Green.
When the committee has met, it has to decide whether it wants to purchase art by young artists, or works by men like Smith, who some believe to be the top American sculptor of the last decade. The committee obviously opted for the latter alternative.
"There are problems, though," says Perkins. "If you're going to place sculpture out of doors, you look for two things. It has to be fairly sizeable, and it's got to be strong enough to stand weather and students."
"I've et quite a few people who like 'Covenant,'" says Titus Hewryk, associate director of Planning and Design and secretary to the committee. "Considering the size, I like it. It gives focus to the entire Superblock area. It's the centerpiece, and it' s very interesting the way the view of it constantly changes."
The committee still has funds available for further purchases. And there's no indication abstract sculpture has been erased from its shopping list.