College could influence other moves

Associated Press

AUSTIN, TEXAS

The University of Texas’ abrupt decision to remove Confederate statues in the middle of the night after the violence in Charlottesville, Va., raises the question of whether other public universities, cities and towns across the state will follow its lead.

Texas wasn’t the first prominent school to take down such monuments – Duke University removed a damaged Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee statue Saturday – but its stature as one of the country’s largest public universities could influence others. And in a state that has the most Confederate symbols except for Virginia, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a movement to get similar symbols removed could gain momentum.

University of Texas President Greg Fenves, who said such monuments have become “symbols of modern white supremacy and neo-Nazism,” cited the Charlottesville violence as a catalyst for his Sunday-night order to move statues of Lee, Confederate Gen. Albert Sydney Johnston and Confederate Postmaster John H. Reagan from a main area of the Austin campus to a history museum.

Crews had them down in just a few hours and also removed a statue of former Gov. James Stephen Hogg, whose likeness will be placed in another spot on campus.

Bill McRaven, chancellor of the 14-campus University of Texas System and Fenves’ boss, supported moving the statues and said they are better suited for a history museum.

He also noted the potential for violence as the national debate over Confederate memorials intensifies.