LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — More than 100 years after it was first erected, the statue of Confederate Captain Robert D. Logan still stands near the campus of Centre College--but this week, it has been covered by a tarp.
A picture of the covered statue was posted on an Instagram page run by a group called Centre Student Initiative. LEX 18 spoke to members, who said they do not know who covered the statue, but they agreed with the message behind it.
"[The statue] faces our campus and it terrorizes students of color by just looking at it," said Glahens Paul, a student at Centre College and member of the group. "It's a symbol of racism."
LEX 18 spoke to Paul and Roop Patel, a graduate of Centre, via Zoom Thursday about their desire to see the statue removed.
"[The tarp] eases some type of pain," Paul said. "But we've been doing these things for about a year now. Frankly, we don't know what the outcome might look like."
The statue is on the property of the Presbyterian Church of Danville, but it faces school buildings. The Centre Student Initiative has been calling for its removal since 2020.
In 2019, LEX 18 spoke with a church representative, who said the church planned to move the statue.
"We came to the conclusion that the statue does not represent who we are as Christians," Alice Davis said in October of 2019. "And we wanted to move on from that era."
Students said the church has since raised tens of thousands of dollars to move the statue, yet the process of moving it has yet to begin.
In a statement, Michael Strysick, a spokesperson from Centre College, said the following:
"Centre College continues to support the church's plan for removing the monument and has consistently worked with them to ensure that they can move forward with their plan as soon as possible."
