Seeking to quell a campus controversy, Rice University plans to relocate the statue of founder and former slaveowner William Marsh Rice from its prominent perch at the center of a well-visited courtyard — but it won’t be going far.
The university’s Board of Trustees agreed late last month to move the effigy from its current spot in the Academic Quadrangle to a less-visible location on the perimeter of the lawn.
The decision, first reported by The Rice Thresher, follows months of discussion about whether the statue should occupy such a prominent place at the 109-year-old private university. Some students had hoped to see the Rice statue relocated to a museum or less-traversed area of campus, but others interviewed Friday said they felt the university had reached a fair compromise.
“It’d be great if we removed the statue (entirely), but at the same time I can understand why they didn’t,” freshman Ben Dhaiti said. “So I think it’s good that they were able to do something to say, ‘Hey, we hear you.’”
The announcement comes as city, state and campus leaders nationwide confront what to do with statues and monuments honoring figures who backed secession, slavery and genocide, among other things.
Board chairman Rob Ladd said the private university’s decision to move the statue and affix context about his life successfully straddles two aspects of history: recognizing Rice’s “landmark” significance in founding the university as well as acknowledging his slave ownership and the university’s segregationist origins.
Rice was a merchant from Massachusetts who moved to Houston and quickly amassed his wealth in Texas. He endowed the private university in 1891, explicitly for whites only, and his reputation was further marred by his ownership of 15 slaves. He was killed in 1900 by his valet and a lawyer who had forged several documents in attempts to acquire his estate, according to the Texas State Historical Association.
“We intend for the Academic Quadrangle to both fully acknowledge the history of our founding and founder, and to mark and celebrate the important evolution and growth of our university over time,” Ladd said in a statement on Jan. 25. “We believe the redesign will allow us to move forward as a community.”
The Rice statute is among many monuments at academic institutions to prompt student protests and petitions about the honoring of Confederate leaders or otherwise implicated historical figures. “Down With Willy” protests occurred throughout the fall at Rice, and the Black Student Association initiated several conversations about the issue.
Some of those pushes have led to change at Texas campuses. After heated discussions in 2015, the University of Texas at Austin removed its statue of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy. And two years ago, Baylor University acknowledged its ties to slavery and the Confederacy and passed a resolution calling for “racial healing and justice.”
Others did not. Five years after relocating the Davis statue, UT declined to rename several buildings and monuments and instead opted to educate visitors and students on the history and context of those namesakes. The school also opted not to get rid of the school spirit song “Eyes of Texas,” which has ties to minstrel shows.
The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents last year created a committee to make recommendations on a statue of Lawrence Sullivan Ross, a former university president and Confederate general; however, they already determined that moving the statue was not an option.
The new layout of Rice’s Academic Quadrangle hasn’t been decided. However, Rice plans to add historical context about the founder and commission a new monument “of similar prominence” commemorating the institution’s integration in the 1960s, according to the board of regents. More monuments representing the university’s history and aspirations will be placed in the courtyard over time.
The redesigned quad will still feature something at its center - one that represents a “welcoming space.”
The Academic Quadrangle is the architectural anchor of Rice’s campus, a heavily wooded area that largely reflects Mediterranean-influenced designs. The quadrangle is bordered on one side by Lovett Hall, the original administrative building that dates to the school’s founding in 1912; the grassy area has recently been used for commencement ceremonies. At the moment, the statue sits atop the spot where the eponymous founder’s ashes are buried.
“This new vision for the Academic Quadrangle will reflect our growth and progress as a university and a community,” university President David Leebron said. “The campus discussions that informed the board’s decision were guided by a spirit of creating a stronger and more inclusive Rice, as we recognize both flaws and progress in our history.”
The board’s decision came after the Task Force on Slavery, Segregation and Racial Injustice recommended the quadrangle undergo “bold change.” The Rice Student Association had called for the statue’s relocation so that it was no longer be a “singular point of attraction.”
The Board of Trustees received more than 1,200 responses from students, faculty and staff voicing their ideas and opinions. The board’s working group also met with chairs of the task force, as well as the executive committee of the Association of Rice University Black Alumni and other Rice community leaders, according to the university.
Divya Venkatesh, a junior, said she hopes the university follows through on its promises to embrace historical context.
“I hope it’s not just a Band-aid solution,” she said.
Freshman student Lucia Romero-Alston agreed. As long as the university does more than move the monument several feet, a middle ground is satisfactory, she said. And she never expected the statue to be fully removed, considering the university is named after Rice.
“Of the options they could have done, they found a pretty decent in-between,” Romero-Alston said.
The university will now launch a process to select an architect or landscape designer for the re-envisioned quadrangle, university officials said.
The university aims for trustees to receive a proposed design in May, according to a news release.
samantha.ketterer@chron.com
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2022-02-12 02:03:45Z
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