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UT-Austin officials to remove Jefferson Davis Statue
Texas Tribune ^ | 13 Aug 2015 | Ally Murtick

Posted on 08/13/2015 10:20:13 AM PDT by Rebeleye

UT-Austin President Gregory Fenves announced that the statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis will soon have a new home. UT is relocating the Davis statue to an exhibit in the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.

(Excerpt) Read more at texastribune.org ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: austin; confederate; davis; jeffersondavis; statue; texas; universityoftexas
Just days after an advisory panel recommended the University of Texas at Austin relocate some or all of its statues of Confederate leaders, UT-Austin President Gregory Fenves announced that the statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis will soon have a new home.

UT is relocating the Davis statue to an exhibit in the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History. Four other statues the panel considered relocating — including ones of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Albert Sidney Johnston — will remain on the university’s South Mall, but Fenves will consider adding explanatory plaques to place them in historical context.

“While every historical figure leaves a mixed legacy, I believe Jefferson Davis is in a separate category,” Fenves wrote in a letter to the UT-Austin community, “and that it is not in the university’s best interest to continue commemorating him. Davis had few ties to Texas; he played a unique role in the history of the American South that is best explained and understood through an educational exhibit.”

The statue of former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson will also be relocated to another outdoor location, but for symmetrical reasons: He stands opposite Davis on South Mall. The Davis statue will likely be removed in the next two days, UT-Austin spokesman Gary Susswein said. It will be refurbished and relocated to the Briscoe Center in the next 18 months.

In June, Fenves assembled a 12-member panel of students, professors and alumni to assess the appropriateness of the statues. The panel solicited more than 3,100 opinions from the public and released its recommendations Monday. Its report presented five options, four of which involved moving some or all of the statues to a history center on campus. Another option would have left the statues in place but called for explanatory plaques.

UT-Austin student government President Xavier Rotnofsky and Vice President Rohit Mandalapu made removal of the Davis statue a central part of their platform when running for office. Both served on the advisory panel and said they were happy to see their goal achieved.

"If there is a statue to be relocated it should be Jefferson Davis, the leader of the Confederacy," Mandalapu said. "Now it can be moved to a place where it can be contextualized and studied within the scope of history."

The other Confederate statues of Lee, Johnston, former Texas Gov. James Hogg and Confederate Postmaster General John Reagan have strong ties to Texas, Fenves said in his letter, noting Lee's legacy "should not be reduced to his role in the Civil War."

Moving the Davis statue, while leaving the other four in place is a respectful decision that still honors the heritage of the United States and the university, Fenves said.

The Davis statue has been the most controversial of the ones commemorating Confederate leaders. In March, the student assembly passed a resolution asking UT to remove the statue of Davis. In April, it was vandalized with the phrase “Davis Must Fall.” A week after June's deadly shooting at a black church in South Carolina, the statues of Davis, Lee and Johnston were tagged with the phrase “Black Lives Matter.”

"Statues have layers of meaning: aesthetic, historical, aspirational and educational. History is not innocent; it is the living foundation for the present," the report said. "The university’s approach to changing and replacing monuments on campus should be conservative but not uncritical."

1 posted on 08/13/2015 10:20:13 AM PDT by Rebeleye
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To: Rebeleye

Did they remember to wear helmets for that cave-in...


2 posted on 08/13/2015 10:21:14 AM PDT by Old Sarge (I prep because DHS and FEMA told me it was a good idea...)
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To: Rebeleye

Maybe “they” should remove greg fenves instead. Oh, crap. It’s austin. Keep austin weird.


3 posted on 08/13/2015 10:21:51 AM PDT by rktman (Served in the Navy to protect the rights of those that want to deprive me of mine. Kinda weird.)
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To: Rebeleye

Nothing’s changed over the years there. Austin is an abscess in the flesh of Texas, and UT and the old LBJ machine are the infection.


4 posted on 08/13/2015 10:23:22 AM PDT by Psalm 144 (The mill grinds exceedingly fine.)
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To: Old Sarge
You must DANCE for the politically correct.

You want to keep your job, DON'T YOU ?

5 posted on 08/13/2015 10:23:48 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
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To: Rebeleye

My alma mater will NEVER get another donation from me.


6 posted on 08/13/2015 10:25:20 AM PDT by bestintxas (every time a RINO loses, a founding father gets his wings.)
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To: Rebeleye

More American history destroyed by some bozo from Kenya and his bottom feeding ‘RAT comrades.


7 posted on 08/13/2015 10:25:34 AM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Cecil the Lion says, Stop the Slaughter of the Baby Humans!!!)
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To: Rebeleye

As a native Texan, Texas A&M graduate and retired college history teacher, I have no issue with the arguments regarding the university’s thinking on this matter. I do have a problem with the circumstances under which this decision was made. And it will be a cold day in hell if anyone attempts to move the statue of Lawrence Sullivan Ross on the A&M campus. Buddy Holly will be gone from the Tech campus before Sully travels.


8 posted on 08/13/2015 10:38:22 AM PDT by yetidog
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To: Rebeleye

The official UT Alumni publication, Alcalde, is named after the gentleman who was President of Texas 1861 Secession Convention and signed the Texas succession document. Later he served in the Eleventh Texas infantry as a Colonel.

How long before Oran Milo Robert’s name is done away with, like a purged Russian bureaucrat?


9 posted on 08/13/2015 10:39:43 AM PDT by Gamecock (Many Atheists: "There is no God and I hate Him!")
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To: Gamecock

Jefferson Davis was an historical figure and a man of his times. I don’t really care one way or the other about him. However, this cleansing of history is a bad deal.

I am a Longhorn an not happy about what I see at my old school.

Oldplayer


10 posted on 08/13/2015 10:42:29 AM PDT by oldplayer
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To: Rebeleye

We need Federal teams to go to homes known to have Confederate ancestors and who keep their names and memorabilia. It all must be effaced. There can be left intact NO record of the Southland before WWI. Future history books will say and future generations will believe that the South was settled for the first time in the 20th Century as a prison colony.


11 posted on 08/13/2015 10:50:32 AM PDT by arthurus (It's true.)
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To: yetidog

From wiki...

“Despite his popularity, Ross refused to run for a third term as governor. Days after leaving office, he became president of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (now Texas A&M University). He is credited with saving the school from closure, and his tenure saw a large expansion in college facilities and the birth of many school traditions. After his death, the Texas legislature created Sul Ross State University in his honor.”

Gig ‘Em ‘84


12 posted on 08/13/2015 11:03:09 AM PDT by fishtank (The denial of original sin is the root of liberalism.)
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To: Rebeleye

Gee. I’ll bet ol’ Davis is really upset about all this brouhaha!


13 posted on 08/13/2015 11:11:57 AM PDT by Twinkie (John 3:16)
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To: Rebeleye

I seem to recall Jeff Davis was a Democrat. They’re kind of eating their own.


14 posted on 08/13/2015 11:20:30 AM PDT by KrisKrinkle (Blessed be those who know the and breadth of "ignorance. individual be those who don't.)
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To: Rebeleye

And they wonder why OU owns them as of late, bunch of pansies.


15 posted on 08/13/2015 11:23:54 AM PDT by Resolute Conservative
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To: Rebeleye

“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.” ...George Orwell, 1984


16 posted on 08/13/2015 11:25:31 AM PDT by Rebeleye (retired veteran)
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To: Twinkie

Probably fill the spots with statues of Juan Valdez and Speedy Gonzalez.


17 posted on 08/13/2015 11:54:35 AM PDT by FirstFlaBn
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To: Rebeleye

Isn’t it enough that UT now has black Football and Basketball coaches?


18 posted on 08/13/2015 11:57:39 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Rebeleye

We may see a statue of V.I. Lenin take its place.


19 posted on 08/13/2015 1:13:08 PM PDT by TexasRepublic (Socialism is the gospel of envy and the religion of thieves)
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To: Rebeleye
Typical cave-in to the PC faction. Hope those super-wealthy alumni are followers of the liberal agenda. Some may not be so ready to fork over those 6 figure endowments.
20 posted on 08/13/2015 4:18:42 PM PDT by scottiemom (As a retired Texas public school teacher, I highly recommend private school)
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