Local News

Texas State University Puts Controversial Monument Out to Pasture

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Tony Maples Photography

 

For 85 years, Texas State University’s campus was home to a statue dedicated to Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president. Last week, the statue was removed without fanfare and reinstalled on some land owned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in Hunter, Texas.

Students and staff expressed their disdain for the monument last year, and the University listened and considered their political opinions as well as the fact the statue didn’t really belong to Texas State anyway. According to the Texas Observer, “The United Daughters of the Confederacy installed the roadside marker almost 90 years ago on federal land, as part of the proposed transcontinental Jefferson Davis Highway. The university later acquired the land, but the Texas Department of Transportation maintained the right-of-way where the marker was situated.”

Those who didn’t want the monument on campus knew of its history. It was installed in 1931 when the city of San Marcos was racially segregated. At one point, the city even held a rally of 20,000 Ku Klux Klan members. For many, the statue represented this time period as well as the obvious connotations of the Civil War. “It was offensive and insulting to a substantial portion of our student body,” English professor Dr. Rebecca Bell-Metereau said.