Visitors have seen the monument, which measures 30 feet tall, at the university’s main entrance. It is the most prominent ode to the Lost Cause on campus since its construction in 1906 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. In 2019, students, faculty, staff, and administrators voted for a student-developed plan that would have the statue moved from its central position to a Confederate cemetery in a quieter part of campus. After several weeks of delays, the politically appointed board members of the Institutions for Higher Learning approved the plan last month. To little fanfare, workers began to disassemble the statue Tuesday morning. Officials at the university had indicated that the move would take place “as soon as possible”, but it was not announced publicly. There were no observers as a stone worker started to remove the stone soldier from its pedestal at dawn. One university officer watched the action from his parked police car. Crews should have finished the move of the statue to the cemetery by the evening. As sketches of the new cemetery were leaked, criticisms were levelled at the approved plans for moving the statue. Students and faculty reacted with anger to the new details about the $1.15million cemetery renovation. One suggestion, shared with IHL board members was for the university’s construction of a brick path leading to the monument. The proposal also stated that a new marker and gravestones will be placed in the cemetery to “recognize Lafayette County men who served in Union Army as part the United States Colored Troops during Civil War”. To allow the University Police Department to keep an eye on the cemetery, benches would be placed. Cameras would also be installed around it. Anne Twitty was an associate professor of history at UM. She was a part of the committee that was tasked to create plaques that contextualized remnants of slavery and Confederacy on campus. Twitty said that the fantasy that one can put up headstones in a resting place without knowing who it was, or where they are located on that plot, strikes her as deeply offensive. Twitty told Mississippi Today last month that “I think that rendering sort of suggests that you can go into this resting place and put up headstones when you don’t know exactly who was there, and when it doesn’t matter where they are located on that plot — that strikes me as deeply offensive.” Glenn Boyce, University of Mississippi Chancellor, released a statement to clarify that the leaked proposal wasn’t the final one, and that many aspects of the leaked renderings would be rejected. Students who drafted the plans to remove the monument from campus’ center said they were critical of university leaders. They stated that they oppose any measure that glorifies the Confederacy or uplifts white supremacist narratives. “The unanimously approved resolution calls for the relocation of the monument to a more prominent location on campus. We didn’t sign on to a project beautifying The Lost Cause.”