Duke University has decided to remove the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from the campus’s chapel entrance, a decision that comes shortly after the statue was vandalized and as the country confronts questions about what Confederacy monuments represent.
Duke President Vincent E. Price authorized the removal of the statue Saturday morning from the university’s campus in Durham, N.C. Several Confederate monuments and flags across the country have either been removed or vandalized in the days following last weekend’s deadly unrest in Charlottesville.
“I took this course of action to protect Duke Chapel, to ensure the vital safety of students and community members who worship there, and above all to express the deep and abiding values of our university,” Price said in an email sent Saturday to faculty members, students, staff and alumni. “The removal also represents an opportunity for us to learn and heal. The statue will be preserved so that students can study Duke’s complex past and take part in a more inclusive future.”
Price said he consulted with faculty and staff about removing the limestone statue that bears a resemblance to Lee after its face was vandalized Wednesday night. An investigation by Duke officials includes reviewing a video from inside the chapel, according to the university.
Price criticized whoever defaced the statue, saying in a statement earlier this week that the culprit undermined the rights of Duke students and employees “to participate fully in university life.”
“We have a responsibility to come together as a community to determine how we can respond to this unrest in a way that demonstrates our firm commitment to justice, not discrimination; to civil protest, not violence; to authentic dialogue, not rhetoric; and to empathy, not hatred,” Price said.
Confederate monuments have attracted renewed scrutiny following the violence in Charlottesville last Saturday, when white supremacists, neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan descended on the Virginia college town about 100 miles southwest of Washington to protest the planned removal of Lee’s statue from a city park. The violent clash with counterprotesters turned deadly when a car, allegedly driven by a Nazi sympathizer, plowed into a crowd, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring 19 others.
On Monday, protesters used a rope to pull down a bronze statue of a Confederate soldier in front of a government building. Eight people have been arrested. Three other statues have been defaced with spray paint.