The Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) approved to university’s plans to relocate the Confederate monument on campus to the Confederate cemetery behind the Tad Smith Coliseum.
The unanimous approval on Friday leaves one more vote to decide whether the monument will be relocated. The Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees will make the final decision whether or not the monument will be moved.
After the Associated Student Body voted in March to recommend the monument be relocated, other campus governing bodies passed similar resolutions before sending them to the Lyceum. The university sent plans to relocate its Confederate monument from the Circle in the center of campus to the Confederate cemetery on campus in late August.
Provost Noel Wilkin said that the MDAH originally planned for the relocation to be on its October agenda, but because of the complexity of the move, its review has taken longer than expected.
When then-Interim Chancellor Larry Sparks informed the campus that the university sent their plans to the MDAH in August, he added that the university would contract an outside firm to facilitate the relocation.
Chancellor Glenn Boyce sent an email updating the university community after the vote on Friday. He added a link to the proposed plans.
Boyce said that the university’s request would not be sent to the IHL until the MDAH approved the relocation.
“With MDAH approval in hand, we will move forward,” he said in the email.
Just over an hour after Boyce’s statement, IHL released a statement saying it had not received a request from the chancellor.
“To date, the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning has not been presented with a request from the Chancellor to relocate the Confederate monument located on the University of Mississippi campus,” the statement said. “The Chancellor of the university determines the items concerning UM that will be submitted to the Board for consideration.”
In November, the IHL board president announced that there would be no board meeting in December. The next IHL board meeting will be held on Thursday, January 16, 2020.
