BRUNSWICK, Maine - Bowdoin College is moving a plaque that commemorates 19 alumni who fought for the confederacy, as well as Confederate president Jefferson Davis- who held an honorary degree from Bowdoin.
The college announced Saturday that in the wake of controversy and discussion over such memorials, the plaque would be taken from its current spot in Pickard Theater in Memorial Hall, to the school's archives and special collections.
“What occurred in Charlottesville and the subsequent national conversation have led us to conclude that historical artifacts like this that are directly tied to the leadership of a horrible ideology are not meant for a place designed to honor courage, principle, and freedom," said Bowdoin President Clayton Rose.
Rather, Rose says the plaque belongs in its academic and historical collections as an object of study.
In place of the plaque, the college plans to install a new panel describing the plaque, its history, why it was moved, and where it can be found.
It's not the first step the college has taken in eschewing its confederate ties. In 2015, Bowdoin College discontinued the Jefferson Davis Award which was given to a student of constitutional law. That award was funded by an endowment from the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and had been given since 1972.
Bowdoin subsequently refunded the value of the endowment to the UDC.
Davis, who served as U.S. Secretary of War under Franklin Pierce, spent time in Maine in 1858. He is known to have addressed the Portland Democratic Convention, as well as attended the Bowdoin commencement that year , where he was given the honorary degree.
