University of Texas to Move Jefferson Davis Statue

The Civil War along with slavery never happened. It's just a figment of our imagination.

There are literally hundreds of streets, highways, and avenues named after prominent Confederates. Are we going to change all those too? At what cost? Should any depiction of the founding fathers be removed? After all many of them had slaves.

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The statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis will be moved to an American history center on campus.

 

Photo: ERIC GRAY/ASSOCIATED PRESS

By

Ana Campoy Updated Aug. 13, 2015 6:59 p.m. ET

The University of Texas at Austin on Thursday said it is moving a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis from its main mall to an American history center on campus, amid a backlash against Confederate symbols in the country.

The decision follows a request from students to remove the statue, which depicts the Confederate leader in a long coat atop a towering pedestal, as well as a review by a special task force that weighed public opinion on the controversial piece.

“While every historical figure leaves a mixed legacy, I believe Jefferson Davis is in a separate category, and that it is not in the university’s best interest to continue commemorating him on our main mall,” university President Gregory Fenves said in a letter to students and faculty. Mr. Fenves said other sculptures on the mall depicting Confederacy figures, including Robert E. Leeand Confederate Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, will stay where they are.

Officials across the U.S. are struggling to balance conflicting views about Confederate symbols after the killing of nine African-Americans in a Charleston, S.C., church earlier this year. The shooter had espoused racist views, according to family and friends, and was photographed with the Confederate flag.

The Jefferson Davis sculpture at UT-Austin has been vandalized several times since the beginning of the year. After it was marked with a “Black Lives Matter” tag in June, Mr. Fenves said he was convening a task force to explore the future of the statue and the others surrounding it, which were created between 1916 and 1933.

Polls conducted by the task force found that 33% of respondents were in favor of moving the Jefferson Davis statue, while another 33% were in favor of keeping all of the statues in their current position.

“Statutes are meant to celebrate and memorialize the people they depict and putting Jefferson Davis on a pedestal isn’t in line with the university’s core values,” said Rohit Mandalapu, vice president of the university’s student body.

And all it took was 82 years to come to this conclusion? If it wasn't for Charleston it would still be standing.

BTW...Meet Rohit Mandalapu:

We're going to allow this slob to dictate what true American values are?

Terry Ayers, a spokesman for the Descendants of Confederate Veterans, a Texas group that had opposed the removal of the statues, said the organization supports Mr. Fenves’s decision to keep all of them on campus.

“It is vitally important that the University of Texas at Austin preserve and understand its history and help its students and the public learn from it in meaningful ways,” he said in a statement.

Separately, a New Orleans city commission on Thursday recommended removing four monuments related to the Confederacy, including a prominent statue of Lee. The vote is part of a process initiated by Mayor Mitch Landrieuto replace Confederate symbols throughout the city. The city council could decide on the issue as early as September, a city spokesman said. 

University of Texas to Move Jefferson Davis Statue