U. of Texas Moves Confederate Statue After Court Rejects Opponents’ Petition

[Updated and revised (8/30/2015, 8:46 p.m.) after the statue’s removal.]

A statue of Jefferson Davis, who was president of the Confederate states during the Civil War, was removed from a controversially prominent position on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin on Sunday morning, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

The move came after a Texas appeals court on Friday declined a request from the Sons of Confederate Veterans to block a lower court’s ruling that allowed the university to move the statue of Davis, along with one of Woodrow Wilson that stood opposite it, to a less-prominent position on the campus. An emergency appeal to the Supreme Court of Texas, seeking to block the move, was unsuccessful.

The statue of Davis, which needs some restoration work, was to be taken temporarily to a university facilities complex. The university plans to install the statue in an American-history center in about 18 months, after the center is renovated. The statue of Wilson will be placed at a yet-to-be-decided outdoor location on the campus, university officials have said.

Austin is one of several universities that have been grappling with what to do about Confederate symbols on their grounds.