Where on campus is this? Answer: Showalter Fountain

Showalter Fountain, situated in the circle drive in front of the IU Auditorium, has endured more than 40 years of student pranks and brutality.\nFinanced by Grace Showalter in memory of her husband Ralph Showalter, who established the foreign trade division of the Eli Lilly company, the fountain was dedicated in an opening ceremony Oct. 22, 1961. Plans were drawn up by IU professor and sculptor Robert Laurent, who based his vision for the fountain off Butticelli's famous painting, "The Birth of Venus," according to the dedication ceremony program.\nIn a personal thank-you note to Showalter dated Nov. 6, 1961, former IU President Herman B Wells emphasized the permanence of the structure. \n"During the period of my administration many new structures have been built, here and at Indianapolis," he wrote. "Two hundred years from now the only one of these which will remain unchanged will be the Fountain. Through the centuries it will remain as a beautiful symbol of this era and of your generosity in making it possible."\nToday, the fountain is not entirely unchanged. In addition to pranks, such as dying the water green or taping bikinis to the mermaid statue, the sculpture has also been the victim of vandalism. \nAccording to an Indiana Daily Student article from 1999, the permanent loss of one dolphin statue was the result of the celebration of IU's NCAA basketball championship victory in 1987. Though it was not recovered, it was replaced. \nOne legend surrounding the fountain could provide a possible explanation for the fish's mysterious disappearance. \n"It is said, rather tongue-in-cheek, that when a virgin graduates from IU, one of the dolphins will swim away," said folklore professor John Johnson in an IDS article dated Oct. 19, 1999.