Response to UM Chancellor Statement on Confederate Statue Move

The Confederate monument stands in the center of the Circle. Photo by Paris Payne

The statue and its location have remained a topic of controversy for Students Against Social Injustice (SASI). Chancellor Larry Sparks released a statement Thursday that represented progress in the group’s push to move it off the Circle.

“The shared governance process has demonstrated that our campus constituents are in alignment, and we agree that the monument should be relocated to a more suitable location,” the statement read.

At least one SASI representative says the chancellor’s statement is just a start.

“If we start to get complacent or too content, then they might to hold off on doing the more active action that it is going to take to the statue down,” SASI Communication Chair Jared Foster said.

Foster says students deserve credit, though, for what has been accomplished so far.

“The statement released as a result of students and organizations, the student body applying pressure, so as long as we keep doing that, they can’t ignore us and that’s how SASI operates,” Foster said.

The statue and where it belongs will likely remain a topic because the process is in it’s beginning stages.

“The process to secure the necessary approvals for this relocation will require some time,” the statement read.

By Paris Payne: ptpayne@go.olemiss.edu and Jyesha Johnson: jkjohns6@go.olemiss.edu