COLLEGE STATION, Texas — KAGS has been following the university and community-wide debate surrounding Texas A&M's statue of Lawrence Sullivan Ross, or, "Sully."
Wednesday night, the A&M student senate hosted an open forum for students who registered in advance to talk about their side of the issue.
The hour-long forum started with several people for Sully's removal or for moving the statue to a library or museum via Zoom.
Later on in the discussion, there were a few people who were for keeping Sully where he is but placing a plaque with context or just not changing anything about the statue at all.
A student in the Zoom forum who was for keeping Sully where he is said, in part, "I say, erect the statue of republican state senator of Matthew Gaines on Academic Plaza across from Sully so that we may know both sides but keep Sullivan Ross where he is... he is the reason many underrepresented people have an education... calling for the removal of one statue in order to place another is tearing Aggies apart in a time where we need to be united."
Another student who was one of the first to speak in the forum said they wanted Sully to be taken down, saying in part, "Sullivan Ross is praised at A&M and despite what Sully supporters may believe... he's a standing, on display representation of racism that's deeply woven in the fabric of A&M , and as long as you protect him, you're protecting bigots too, and I think the administration knows that, but they're too afraid for their bottom line for losing donations from potential racists and i think that says a lot. I love A&M and i'm so proud to be an Aggie, but feeling more unwanted and unprotected than a statue of a confederate general really hurts... we should preserve history... history is best learned and preserved in a library."
You can watch the student forum in its entirety here: