The University of Texas at Brownsville faces an aesthetic challenge in meeting the terms of an agreement with the federal government that ended a dispute over a controversial border-security fence, the Associated Press reports. The institution has 10 days to design a fence that is intimidating enough to turn back illegal immigrants but remains true to the “friendly” image the university’s president, Juliet V. García, described when she announced the breakthrough agreement last week.

A federal judge accepted an agreement in principle to end the dispute last Thursday. The government and the university presented a signed, formal version of the agreement to the judge on Tuesday. According to the AP, the document makes clear that the university’s design ultimately must be approved by the Border Patrol, and that the fence must “incorporate anti-climb, anti-tunnel and anti-perching features, as well as convey an image of impenetrability.”

The anti-tunnel requirement will be met by running a bar of concrete below the fence that is 18 inches deep and eight inches wide. Above ground, the barrier will be chain link with 1.5-inch squares, according to Michael Putegnat, who oversaw the negotiations for the university. “It will look pretty much like the fence you’d see at a baseball field backstop,” he told the news service. That seems sufficient to accommodate Ms. García’s vision of a fence “with bougainvillea and vines climbing all over it.” —Charles Huckabee