In June, someone vandalized the granite bases of the statues with spray paint.
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But now, in 2015, it appears something will finally be done.
An advisory panel recommended Monday that one or more statues of Confederate leaders at the University of Texas be relocated to a history center on campus or that explanatory plaques be added to their current and more prominent outdoor setting.
Fenves will decide what exactly to do about the statues sometime before the end of the summer.
The 12-member task force is chaired by Gregory Vincent, UT Vice President for Diversity and Community Engagement.
In the report, the task force says “The university’s approach to changing and replacing monuments on campus should be conservative but not uncritical”.
The task force solicited more than 3,100 opinions through public forms, phone calls and online submissions. One recommendation is to leave the statues in place but to install plaques explaining the person’s role in the Confederacy.
The University of Texas at Austin is weighing the future of a controversial statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis on campus. The report also notes that this option “could be perceived as passive, lacking leadership”.
The task force, which included UT students, faculty and staff members, looked at the intent of the statues in the Main Mall on campus, studied racial controversies surrounding the statues, and provided alternatives to leaving the statues as they are.
Don Carleton, executive director of the Briscoe Center, told the American-Statesman last month that the center could house the Confederate statues.
All four relocation options include relocating an inscription on a stone wall just to the west of the fountain that glorifies the Confederacy without actually mentioning slavery. Furthermore, if some or all of the statues are moved, “then the inscription will be referring to something that no longer exists in its entirety”.
Option 2 would relocate the Davis statue and the inscription. “However, it would draw more attention to the statues while not ending – and likely prolonging – the controversy”.
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Option 4: Relocate the statues of Davis, Lee, Johnston and Woodrow Wilson and the inscription near the Littlefield Fountain to an exhibit elsewhere on campus. “If we relocate Reagan, a Texan, do we put a target on any building or other space that honors a Texan who also was a Confederate veteran?” the Commission asked. “I’m the one who’s offended by this and my offense is valid”. Reagan, while a Confederate, went on to become a U.S. Congressman and “urged his fellow Texans to cooperate with the federal government, renounce secession, and allow freed slaves to vote”.
