COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — University of Missouri officials have decided not to remove a statue of Thomas Jefferson from the Columbia campus after meeting with students who asked that the statue be taken down.
University of Missouri System President Mun Choi said in a statement Friday that administrators are committed to continuing conversations with the groups who raised the issue.
Roman Leapheart, a sophomore from Kansas City, started an online petition to have the statue removed, saying Jefferson owned slaves and fathered children with one of those slaves. The petition garnered more than 3,300 signatures by Friday.
Leaphart and members of the Legion of Black Collegians met Thursday with Choi, three Missouri curators and university administrators to discuss the issue.
Choi said the meeting was an example of the “power of civil discourse” and involved different perspective on complex issues. But after discussion with other curators, the decision was made to keep the statue.
“We learn from history. We contextualize historical figures with complex legacies. We don’t remove history,” he said.
Choi recommended that university faculty and students discuss how the school can put Jefferson into better historical context.
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Organizers of an online petition drive to have a statue of Thomas Jefferson removed from the University of Missouri's campus in Columbia had a “very constructive” meeting with the university system's president on Thursday, a school spokesman said.
UM System President and interim University of Missouri Chancellor Mun Choi met in private with the petition organizers. University spokesman Christian Basi said he would release details from the meeting at a later time.
The petition had garnered more than 3,250 signatures by Thursday afternoon.
One of the organizers of the petition campaign, Roman Leaphart, a sophomore from Kansas City, said previously he objected to the statue because Jefferson owned slaves and father children with one of his slaves, Sally Hemmings.
Leaphart, who is black, said he was also motivated by the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.
Students also petitioned to have the statue removed in 2015, when the campus was roiled by protests by people upset with the university's treatment of minorities but that petition did not gain traction.