A confederate statue on the campus of the University of Mississippi will be moved from it’s prominent position on campus to a secluded Civil War cemetery. The College Board voted Thursday to move the statue. Associated Student Body President Joshua Mannery says this was one of the last major symbols of the confederacy on campus. “I think the statue has dominated a lot of conversations in the past when it comes to progress and change," says Mannery. "So now we can finally look at things like representation and equity and normalize traditions and things like that we at the University can work to change.”
The University of Mississippi was founded in 1848, and the marble statue of a saluting Confederate soldier was put up in 1906. It is one of many Confederate monuments erected across the South more than a century ago.
Critics say its display near the university’s main administrative building sends a signal that Ole Miss glorifies the Confederacy and glosses over the South’s history of slavery.
The estimated cost of the move is $1.2 million, which will be paid with private donations, not public money, the board said.
The decision happened amid widespread debate over Confederate symbols across the country.