Provost Noel Wilkin said the Mississippi Department of Archives and History has put the movement of the Confederate monument on their December meeting agenda.
Wilkin committed to transparency regarding the movement of the monument at the Provost forum in September. He discussed several things during the forum, including diversity training for Greek students and further explanation of the UM Creed.
The university’s Facilities Planning Department contacted Wilkin around a week ago and informed him that the MDAH would add their review of the university’s plans to their December agenda.
The university sent plans to relocate its Confederate monument from the middle of the Circle in the center of campus to the Confederate cemetery on campus in late August.
Wilkin said that the MDAH originally planned to put the relocation on its October agenda, but due to the complexity of the move, its review has taken longer than expected.
If the MDAH approves the university’s plans in their December meeting, the decision to relocate the monument will rest in the hands of the Institutions of Higher Learning. The Board of Trustees has the authority to make the final decision on whether or not the monument will be relocated.
When then-Interim Chancellor Larry Sparks informed campus in August that the university sent their plans to the MDAH, he added that the university would contract an outside firm to facilitate the relocation.