University of Texas in Austin removes Confederate statues

AUSTIN, TEXAS » University of Texas President Greg Fenves ordered the immediate removal of statues of Robert E. Lee and other prominent Confederate figures from a main area of campus, saying such monuments have become “symbols of modern white supremacy and neo-Nazism.”

There was a heavy police presence, and some arguments occurred among those gathered, after Fenves announced the move late Sunday and crews began removing the statues. The school blocked off the area, and the statues were expected to be gone by midmorning Monday, a spokesman said.

Fenves said statues of Lee, Confederate Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston and Confederate Postmaster General John H. Reagan will be moved to the Briscoe Center for American History on campus. In 2015, the university moved a statue of former Confederate President Jefferson Davis from its perch near the campus clock tower, the same area as the other statues, to the history museum.

Early Monday, crews first removed a statue of former Texas Gov. James Stephen Hogg, which was commissioned at the same time as the others, a spokesman said. Hogg will get another place on campus.

Less than 30 people, both supporters and opponents of Fenves’ order, congregated after midnight behind barricades near the statues. Among them was Mark Peterson, who identified himself as a University of Houston student. He was seething at the removal of the statues.

“I hate the erasure of history and my people’s history ... people of European descent who built this country,” the 22-year-old said. “It burns me to my core.”

Mike Lowe, an activist for the removal of Confederate statues in San Antonio, was driving to Dallas when he heard the statues were coming down, turned around and drove to campus. Lowe, 37, who is African-American, engaged in a brief but tense argument with a white male protester until police stepped in to separate them.

“They have no other reasons than ‘you are erasing our history.’ Their reasoning is flawed. These monuments represent white supremacy, and black lives haven’t mattered in this county the same as a white man’s matters,” Lowe said.

The debate over public memorials for Confederate figures roared into national conversation last week after one person was killed and 19 were injured when a car drove into a crowd of people in a clash between white supremacists and counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia.

“Last week, the horrific displays of hatred at the University of Virginia and in Charlottesville shocked and saddened the nation. These events make it clear, now more than ever, that Confederate monuments have become symbols of modern white supremacy and neoNazism,” Fenves said in a statement.

Moving the Davis statue in 2015 was a much more deliberate effort. The Davis statue had long been a target of vandalism. Fenves convened a special task force to discuss its future after a shooting rampage by a white supremacist at a Charleston, South Carolina, church and ultimately decided it should come down.