The Virginia Military Institute (VMI), the oldest state-run military college in the U.S., removed the statue of Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson from their campus this week following demands that the school scrub itself of “racist” imagery and iconography.
The removal process cost the school $209,000, according to CBS News. The school said the statue will be moved to the Virginia Museum of the Civil War and New Market Battlefield State Historical Park.
"VMI does not define itself by this statue and that is why this move is appropriate," interim superintendent Cedric Wins, a retired U.S. Army major general, said Monday in a statement. "We are defined by our unique system of education and the quality and character of the graduates the Institute produces. Our graduates embody the values of honor, respect, civility, self-discipline, and professionalism. This is how we will continue to be defined."
CBS reports that on top of taking down the statue to appease the PC mob, VMI’s Board of Visitors “has committed to appointing a permanent diversity officer, creating a permanent diversity and inclusion committee on the Board of Visitors, creating ‘diversity initiatives to include a focus on gender" and adopting new hiring practices and a diversity hiring plan; all in an effort to "honestly address historical inequities and be intentional about creating a better future.’”