After months of debate over its presence on UT-Austin's campus, the Jefferson Davis statue on the school's Main Mall was removed this morning.
The statue of the president of the Confederate States of America will be relocated to the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History as part of an educational exhibit. The university also removed the Woodrow Wilson statue, and will relocate somewhere that has yet to be determined.
Though the statue's had a history of controversy since its installation in 1933, a campus-wide effort to remove the statue was bolstered by a national discussion of Confederate memorabilia in the aftermath of racially-motivated shootings in South Carolina this summer. In June, newly-minted UT-Austin President Greg Fenves commissioned a panel to examine the possible options for the statue. Four out of five of the options presented which recommended removing the Davis statue. The university also held two public hearings on the statues.
Fenves made the decision to remove the statue earlier this month. That decision was followed by a lawsuit from the Sons of the Confederate Veterans that sought to halt the statue's removal, but a judge dismissed that bid last week.
Ahead of its display at the Briscoe Center, UT says the statue will be refurbished and will be on display at the center within the next 18 months.
