He sided with the agitators over the students.
Via Campus Reform:
Florida State University says it will relocate a statue of Francis Eppes, a grandson of Thomas Jefferson, even though the idea was rejected in a 2016 student referendum.
FSU President John Thrasher announced Tuesday that the school will remove the statue of Francis Eppes from Westcott Plaza in accordance with the recommendation of a panel he appointed last fall, The Tallahassee Democrat reports.
As Campus Reform has previously reported, the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) chapter at FSU had spearheaded a referendum in 2016 calling for the Eppes statue’s removal on the grounds that he was “especially racist” and “especially pro-slavery.”
Thrasher concedes in his letter to the school community that students rejected the proposal at the time, but says “the vote brought to light the concerns some people have about honoring Eppes,” prompting him to create an Advisory Panel on University Namings and Recognitions.
Thrasher accepted two of the recommendations forwarded to him Friday by the 15-member committee, saying that he will not only remove the Eppes statue, but will also seek legislative approval to erase former Florida Supreme Court Justice B.K. Robert’s name from the main building at the College of Law.
Despite acknowledging that “Eppes’ history as a slave owner” was the primary objection raised by students, Thrasher focuses primarily on Eppes’ role in the founding of FSU in his rationale for the decision, only mentioning slavery in the context of calling for a marker to provide context for the statue in its new location.
“The panel uncovered sufficient new evidence to dispute the claim that Eppes was the sole founder of FSU,” he asserts, saying, “It’s clear that Eppes had an important part to play in the early days of this institution’s history, but declaring him ‘the founder’ is overstating his role.”
While the statue will be moved to an unspecified location, however, Thrasher decided not to rename Eppes Hall, but rather to install a marker in or near the building “to provide biographical information about Eppes, including his slave ownership and role as justice of the peace, and to place his contribution to the founding of this institution in proper context.”