Ole Miss student government votes to remove Confederate monuments from campus

Students at the University of Mississippi voted unanimously on Wednesday (March 6) to remove and relocate a statue of a Confederate soldier on the Oxford, Miss. campus, the Clarion Ledger reported. The vote of the Associated Student Body was 47-0; the university’s chancellor will have final say over the proposed relocation to a cemetery on the campus.

The newspaper reported that the statue was donated to the university by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1906. The United Daughters of the Confederacy was an organization that some historians say promoted the Cult of the Lost Cause, which was an effort to glorify the Confederacy and promote white supremacy; the group now denounces efforts by white supremacist groups to promote the Confederate battle flag.

In the resolution, the Clarion Leger reported, the students at Ole Miss said, “Confederate ideology directly violates the tenets of the university creed that supports fairness, civility, and respect for the dignity of each person.”

Arielle Hudson, the vice president of the university’s black student union, told the Clarion Leger that she is tired of having conversations with parents of prospective students who dislike seeing the Confederate statue on tours.

Read more: https://www.nola.com/politics/2019/03/ole-miss-student-government-votes-to-remove-confederate-monuments-from-campus-report.html