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Pro-Confederate protesters sing Dixie in front of a Confederate monument in downtown Oxford on The Square.
NICK SUSS, MISSISSIPPI CLARION LEDGER
The Confederate statue on the University of Mississippi campus will be relocated, a year and a half after students passed a resolution decrying the monument.

The Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning voted to approve the measure Thursday morning.

“The Board of Trustees approved the request from the Chancellor of the University of Mississippi,” said Dr. Alfred Rankins Jr., Commissioner of Higher Education s in a release immediately issued during the meeting. “He and his team devoted considerable time and attention to developing a thoughtful plan to relocate its Confederate Monument to the University Cemetery."

The statue will be moved from its current location near the university's administration building to the cemetery located on campus. It was erected in 1906, more than 40 years after the end of the Civil War. In May, the words “spiritual genocide” were spray-painted on the monument along with red hand prints.

Amid public outcry and debate, confederate statues around the country have toppled in recent weeks. Some, like the statue on the Ole Miss campus are being taken down by officials while others are coming down at the hands of protesters.

"The Board reviewed the detailed plans for the new site, considered events on college campuses across the South involving Confederate monuments, and listened to the University's various constituency groups," said IHL Board President Ford Dye. "The Board subsequently determined relocating the Confederate statue to be most appropriate for Ole Miss moving forward."

In a letter to the university community Thursday afternoon, Chancellor Glenn Boyce credited the students who first passed the resolution in 2019.

"While many played a role in this process, it is important to recognize the group of students who reinvigorated this discussion, researched the issues, and developed proposals for relocation," Boyce wrote. "They demonstrated the type of leadership that is a hallmark of our students. We also recognize the important support that came from student, faculty, staff and administrative governing bodies as well as several alumni and university foundation boards."