Should the University of Texas Remove the Statue of Jefferson Davis? [POLL]

A petition to remove a statue of Jefferson Davis is gaining momentum according to the San Antonio Express News. For months some students have been pushing to remove the statue but debated heated up recently as a result of the Confederate flag debate in Charleston.

University of Texas students took to Twitter over the weekend calling for state leaders to weigh in on an effort to remove the statue of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy, from the UT campus.

Statues of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Albert Sidney Johnston also line the campus’ South Mall. Other monuments to the Confederacy are scattered throughout the grounds of the state Capitol. But Davis became a particular target here as criticism of such symbols reheated nationwide after a gunman killed nine members of a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, last week.

Student Government Vice President Rohit Mandalapu said the group “had to start somewhere” and decided that the prominent Davis statue could bring attention to the issue.

“I think when we have this discussion with administrators we can talk about how to address all the potentially offensive statues,” he said.

The hashtag “#NoDavisOnCampus” started trending this weekend along with a petition on the website change.org that had more than 1,700 signatures Monday evening.

The university’s student government Twitter page tweeted to leaders, including UT President Greg Fenves and Austin Mayor Steve Adler, calling for the removal of the statue.

Fenves replied to the tweet, saying he takes the issue very seriously and is “working with student and campus leadership on it.”

Fenves was to meet with students Monday afternoon to address their concerns, UT spokesman Gary Susswein said.

Mandalapu said the petition was launched Sunday afternoon and had 1,000 signatures by the end of the day.

Among the signers was U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, who said Monday he hoped the university would do the right thing by removing the statue from campus.

“There is a place for them in history and that’s in our museums across the country,” he said of the postwar tributes to Confederate leaders that were common in the South but whose appropriateness has been questioned with increasing sharpness in recent decades.

Should the University of Texas remove the statue? Let us know in today's KFYO Poll of the Day.