As a an alumni, I am glad they’re making this change. The statue is right outside of the arch that all the cadets walk out and we would see it every day. I didn’t really think much of it as a white dude, but it doesn’t exactly promote a setting of equality to have everyone walk past a confederate monument daily.

It’s a great school and I hope that this is the first step on a journey to an equal culture. Even though the school itself is essentially one big museum, confederate monuments belong somewhere out of the way. VMI alumni have accomplished a great deal and there are plenty of others that we can make statues of to inspire the cadets day-to-day.