Thomas Jefferson’s alma mater, the College of William & Mary, must clean up a statue of the former president that was vandalized over the weekend.
One of the nation’s most prestigious universities celebrated its 324th birthday late last week, only for students to find its Williamsburg campus marred with fake blood applied to a statue of Mr. Jefferson. On the ground nearby was a message about the man who penned the final draft of the Declaration of Independence: “Slave owner.”
Images of statue were shared on Facebook by student Brendan Thomas over the weekend, the Daily Caller reported Monday.
“You can’t change history by vandalizing statues at W&M and you aren’t some sort of whistleblower. The world knows what Jefferson did and it has decided it is OK with his contributions both good and bad,” replied Nathan Peterson to the unidentified perpetrator. “Rarely does anyone live a saintly life without some flaws … except Jesus but half the people on this campus don’t want to hear about Jesus or Jefferson.”
“What does this accomplish?” asked another reader. “I know this likely isn’t the case with many other places, but at least in this community of intelligent, well-read people, I would imagine that most people here are aware that Jefferson did indeed own slaves.”
William & Mary, which was charted by King William III and Queen Mary II of England, also granted George Washington his surveyor’s license and degrees to presidents John Tyler and James Monroe.
Mr. Jefferson attended the school from March 1760 to April 1762.
School officials did not respond to the website’s request for comment prior to time of publication.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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