Topeka ? Visitors to the campus of Washburn University have seen the last of a sculpture that some Roman Catholics deemed disrespectful.

“Holier Than Thou,” which depicts a grimacing Catholic clergyman with a tall hat, had stood since last September outside the university’s student union as part of an annual display of outdoor art.

The hat, which some viewers found suggestive of a phallus, and the accompanying inscription mocking Catholic sacraments drew pro-tests both at Washburn and around the state.

In Wichita, the board of education banned visits from the Topeka university’s recruiters to their high schools, and a Washburn student and professor asked a federal judge to order the bronze casting removed from the campus. They have appealed the judge’s refusal to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

But the sculpture had been scheduled for removal by July 1 anyway, and it was taken down June 23 to make way for a new exhibit.

Thomas Ellis, special assistant to Washburn’s president, said the university never intended to stir controversy with the statue, but he defended the decision to keep it on display.

“There’s the larger issue of, do universities discontinue everything someone might have an objection to?” Ellis said.

“And if that were to occur, there would be little left that someone would allow us to teach.”

Holier Than Thou