The relocation of the Confederate monument is slated to go before the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) Board of Trustees at their meeting on Friday.

Provost Noel Wilkin said that he was committed to transparency regarding the movement of the monument at the Provost forum in September. He said that the university’s Facilities Planning Department contacted him in October and informed him that the MDAH would add their review of the university’s plans to their December agenda.

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.

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.

If the MDAH approves the university’s plans in their December meeting, the decision to relocate the monument will rest in the hands of the Institutions of Higher Learning. The IHL Board of Trustees will make the final decision whether or not the monument will be relocated if the MDAH approves the move. 

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.