Texas university removes Confederate president statue from campus

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/30/texas-university-confederate-statue-jefferson-davis

Version 0 of 1.

A statue of Jefferson Davis has been removed from its place on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin, after a failed appeal by a Confederate heritage group.

Related: FBI investigates website and manifesto linked to Charleston shooting suspect Dylann Roof

Crews could be seen on Sunday morning removing the statue of the Confederate president from its place near the university’s clock tower. University president Greg Fenves recently said the statue would be moved to a museum.

“This is an iconic moment,” said Gregory Vincent, the university’s vice-president for diversity and community engagement, according to the Austin American-Statesman. “It really shows the power of student leadership.”

The statue has been a target of vandalism as well as criticism that it is a symbol of racism and discrimination. Following the shooting dead in June of nine members of a black church in Charleston, South Carolina, Confederate symbols nationwide are being re-considered.

Dylann Roof faces charges in the Charleston case. In pictures posted online with a “manifesto” which espoused racial hatred, he was pictured with a Confederate battle flag.

In July, South Carolina removed the flag from a Confederate monument on the grounds of its statehouse.

In the case of the Jefferson Davis statue in Austin, university officials halted earlier plans to move the statue after the Sons of Confederate Veterans asked a judge to stop them.

The Confederate group compared the proposal to relocate the statue to the Islamic State group destroying artifacts in the Middle East. State district judge Karin Crump, however, ruled last week that Texas officials have the authority under state law to decide where the statue should stand.

Statues of other Confederate figures Confederate generals Robert E Lee and Albert Sidney Johnston, and Confederate postmaster general John Reagan, will remain in their places on campus.