University of Missouri officials say they will not remove history with Thomas Jefferson statue
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The University of Missouri said Friday that it will not remove history after students started a petition to have a statue of Thomas Jefferson removed from campus.
Mun Choi, UM system president and interim MU chancellor, stated in a news release that after discussions with curators, the university decided not to remove the Jefferson statue. Instead, the university should explore how MU can contextualize this historical figure, Choi said.
"We learn from history," Choi said in the release. "We contextualize historical figures with complex legacies. We don’t remove history."
MU students posted a petition on Change.org that states the university has no room for a racist slave owner on its campus or in the Francis Quadrangle, where thousands of black students pass by every day, forced to deal with imagery of the past.
The legacy of Jefferson, an author of the Declaration of Independence and president of the United States, has been scrutinized because he owned slaves.
Roman Leapheart the organizer of the petition to remove the Thomas Jefferson statue from Mizzuo’s campus said he was upset with the University’s decision but he’s not stopping there.
“I’m leaving it there,” Leapheart said. “If I get rid of it, that's getting rid of history. That's acting like it didn't happen, leaving it there. It keeps, you know, keeps the conversation going. It keeps students knowing that this happens and it keeps them talking.”
Leapheart said people are not happy that the university uses history as a way to dismiss this as he said people don't want to get rid of history they want it to reflect the way it actually played out.
“I hope other students aren't afraid to speak up in fear,” Leapheart said. “or discourse and pushback, because nothing ever has gotten started without a little push back.”
The statue was also an issue during protests seeking racial equity on campus by Concerned Student 1950 in fall 2015. MU leaders decided to keep the statue, which several students covered in sticky notes, on campus.
