University of Kentucky to cover controversial campus mural
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto has decided to cover a campus mural from 1934 that shows scenes from state history, including black workers in a tobacco field and a Native American with a tomahawk.
Capilouto wrote on the school's website Monday that he met with a group of students recently and understood their frustrations over the mural.
CBS affiliate WKYT reports that the move comes two weeks after Capilouto hosted a sit down with two dozen black students -- undergraduate, graduate and professional students -- who detailed the emotions stirred up by the mural.
The mural, Capilouto said in a statement, is an "artistic presentation of contrasts and contradictions" but he acknowledged the hurt it caused some students, WKYT reports.
"A product of the 1930s perspective of the artist and her times, we are left today with the task of confronting the unsettling questions it raises for our sense of community," he said. "And it is a point of deeply held concern for the two dozen Black and African American students who talked with me and other members of the University administration two weeks ago."
The meeting was held about three days after University of Missouri's systems president resigned amid protests over racial discrimination on campus, WKYT reports. Capilouto's meeting was scheduled weeks before the incidents unfolded at Mizzou, but UK students joined a national social media campaign that used the hashtag "Not Just Mizzou."
Students from University of Kentucky posted several tweets about microaggresions they have encountered on campus, including the mural at Memorial Hall, reports WKYT.
Capilouto says he'll have the Memorial Hall fresco shrouded until a more permanent solution is found. The mural was painted directly into the plaster, making its removal difficult. He says an explanation of the cover will be placed nearby.
In 2006, senators of the University of Kentucky's student government passed a resolution to remove the mural, but then-President Lee Todd said he thought the artwork was an important historical and artistic artifact.