The statue of Thomas Jefferson sits on a bench just outside the Residence on the Quad, gazing at out at the quad he inspired. As one of the writers of the Declaration of Independence, he fittingly has a quill in his right hand, in mid-scribble on a piece of paper.
Now, several groups on campus are using Jefferson’s tools, pen and paper, against him: to determine whether his statue should stay on campus.
On Oct. 20, the MU College Republicans organized a #StandWithJefferson movement and started a petition to keep the statue in the Quad, which 143 people signed during the two-hour event. Two weeks earlier on Oct. 7, members of the University of Missouri Student Coaltion for Critical Action organized the #PostYourStateOfMind movement. They posted sticky notes labeling Jefferson as a “slave owner,” “misogynist” and “rapist.”
Graduate student Maxwell Little started a petition to remove the statue, which 106 people have signed since early August. He said he started the petition because he believes the statue symbolizes a separation of class and race.
MU is the first state university built on land bought in the Lousiana Purchase. Jefferson’s epitaph has rested at MU since the late 1800s. In 2013, the Smithsonian restored the grave marker, which was rededicated Oct. 9.
The College Republicans draped an American flag on the statue’s shoulders and posted sticky notes that read: “Thank You,” “Freedom Fighter” and “President.” They worked in conjunction with Amy Lutz of the Young America’s Foundation to generate the idea for the event.
After reading some of the sticky notes posted by the #PostYourStateOfMind event, MU College Republican President Skyler Roundtree made several counterclaims about Jefferson.
According to the
website of Thomas Jefferson’s plantation in Virginia, Jefferson fiercely opposed slavery, calling it an “abominable crime.” Jefferson owned slaves — he inherited them from his father — and did not participate in the formal slave trade. However, he did sell some of the slaves who ran away from his plantation.
He signed a law in 1807 prohibiting “the importation of slaves into any port or place within the jurisdiction of the United States,” and endorsed a gradual emancipation process in his private journals.
Jefferson also drafted the first Virginia Constitution and made an effort to end slavery in his draft in 1776: “No person hereafter coming into this county shall be held within the same in slavery under any pretext whatever.”