Yale’s decision to relocate a beloved Claes Oldenburg sculpture has sparked strong feelings about the late alum artist’s intentions this week. When letters were found etched on the surface of Oldenburg’s “Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks” (1969) last month, the university announced that after 50 years in the Morse College courtyard, the public work would be moved to the Yale University Art Gallery for “conservation and care.” Oldenburg, who graduated from Yale in 1950, created the 24-foot steel sculpture in collaboration with a group of the university’s architecture students in 1969 — the same year the school began accepting women to study. It was originally installed with an inflatable lipstick crayon at the university’s Beinecke Plaza to serve as a speaking platform during a series of anti-Vietnam War protests, but after severe vandalism, Oldenburg and the students removed and refabricated it for durability before giving it back to Yale. “I’m sorry, but I find this hilari...