Comment on Judge clears way for removal of Davis statue at UT

AUSTIN - A judge refused Thursday to block the removal of a statue of Confederacy President Jefferson Davis from a prominent spot on the University of Texas campus, rejecting arguments likening the move to cultural atrocities committed by Islamic extremists in the Mideast. A task force appointed by UT-Austin President Gregory Fenves recommended several options, including the installation of signs at its present site to put Davis' record in historical perspective, or removal to the museum. Carrying out Fenves' decision, he said, "would be a death warrant for other statues on campus, except for (ones of the late Texas congresswoman) Barbara Jordan and (the late civil rights leader) Martin Luther King." Lyons said the removal of Davis' and Wilson's statues would destroy the original concept for the display on the mall, intended to show the reunification of the United States between the Civil War and the end of World War I.