Ole Miss Moves to Relocate Confederate Statue Out of Campus Center After Protests

AP Photo, Rogelio V. Solis

After weeks of contention, the University of Mississippi announced on Thursday that the Confederate monument at the center of its campus would be relocated, pending the approval of state agencies.

This month Ole Miss’s Associated Student Body, Graduate Student Council, Faculty Senate, and Staff Council all voted to relocate the controversial statue to a nearby cemetery that’s also on university grounds. On Thursday the interim chancellor, Larry D. Sparks, told students, faculty, and staff that the administration agreed.

“The recommendations made by these university entities, and sent to us by other internal and external groups, indicate that the most suitable campus location for this monument is not its current site, on University Circle,” Sparks said in a written statement.

In February the Confederate monument became a flash point in a longstanding debate over Confederate symbols on college campuses when two neo-Confederate groups led a rally through Oxford, Miss., that ended at the base of the monument, which honors an unnamed Confederate soldier. The groups were protesting the university’s recent attempts to distance itself from Confederate history, including dropping its Colonel Reb mascot.

In response, eight Ole Miss men’s basketball players took a knee during the playing of the national anthem before a game. Several groups, on campus and off, then reached out to university officials to express their support for the statue’s relocation, according to Sparks’s statement.

Elam Miller, Ole Miss’s student-body president, said this month that most students were frustrated that people outside the university identify it first and foremost with racism. The Associated Student Body voted unanimously for relocation. Following the vote, he applauded the decision to compromise by calling for a relocation, rather than a removal, of the monument.

“Having the statue at the heart of campus sends a message that we’re not trying to send,” said Miller. “Taking it away from the center of campus lets us move forward and shows students that it’s a campus for everyone. I really feel like everyone is just excited about what this says about the University of Mississippi.”

‘Too Much’

Le’Trice Donaldson, a professor of African-American studies and a member of the Faculty Senate, said talks about relocating the monument had been going on for several years. Many people on campus realize that the threat of violence that comes with keeping the statue where it is, she said, is “too much.”

“For a campus that’s trying to rehabilitate its image in relation to minority issues, the fact that the first thing you see when you walk on campus is a monument to the Confederacy — which resonates with the language of hatred and oppression of minorities — that is a slap in the face to that rehabilitation,” Donaldson said.

University leaders have consulted with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and the staff of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning, the state’s public universities, on the necessary steps to relocate the statue, according to the statement.

“This is an important decision for our university. The monument, its meaning, and its location have been a point of discussion and debate for many years,” Sparks said. “The shared-governance process has demonstrated that our campus constituents are in alignment, and we agree that the monument should be relocated to a more suitable location.”

The monument is a historical landmark, and relocation would require approval from the Department of Archives and History, according to the statement. The university has already submitted a notice of its intentions to the department, Sparks said, but the process of approval could take “some time.”

“We will work diligently toward this goal,” he said, “by respecting and abiding by state rules, regulations, and policies that govern the process of relocation.”

Correction (3/22/2019, 10:35 a.m.): A previous version of this article’s headline and first sentence stated that the university would move the statue. The approval of state agencies is required for that. The article has been changed accordingly.

Zipporah Osei is an editorial intern at The Chronicle. Follow her on Twitter @zipporahosei, or email her at zipporah.osei@chronicle.com.