It concerns the image Alert, a six-metre stack of iron blocks with which the artist wants to show a squatting person. At the bottom is a three-meter protrusion, according to Gormley (71) the knee, but according to the students you can easily see an erect penis in it. According to the company, the name could also indicate that. They write in a protest that the presence of the statue “could damage the image and reputation of the college.”
Although the students say they don’t have much of a problem with “phallic images in art”, they think the image in this public place is not acceptable. According to them, such an alleged manifestation of masculinity does not fit in their field because female students are already in the minority at this college.
A former student thought the college was doing the college a favor by donating the statue of the winner of the prestigious Turner Prize, which is also inducted into the Order of the British Empire.