TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Florida State University removed the Francis Eppes statue from the school's front gates early Thursday morning.
The statue has been the target of intense debate for nearly a year.
Eppes was once commemorated as the Founder of FSU, and until early Thursday morning his statue was on the school's Westcott Plaza.
Florida State University reports the Eppes statue was removed “early Thursday morning.” Now the statue is in temporary storage and its future relocation has not been determined, an FSU spokesperson said.
According to FSU, “the timing was made to minimize disruption to campus.”
Video that Megan Eppes Barnes, a member of the Eppes family, posted to Facebook on Thursday night shows crews removing the statue.
The statue, which had been on FSU campus since 2002, was removed under the direction of Florida State University President John Thrasher.
The statue was at the center of a debate that lasted for most of the school year, citing Eppes' past as a slave owner as a reason he shouldn't have a statue in such a prominent location on campus.
Earlier this week, WTXL spoke to the sculptor who made the statue, Ed Jonas.
"We took great pains to make sure we were building a sculpture that would commemorate the educational contributions that Francis Eppes made," Jonas said.
Eppes' great, great, great granddaughter wrote on the post that she is proud to be an Eppes and said the FSU president was easily convinced to overlook all of the accomplishments and generosity of Francis Eppes.
Reacting to the statue's removal, the FSU College Republicans issued a statement.
"It was highly disappointing that the President chose to ignore a 71.7% majority of students who voted to keep the statue of Mr. Eppes in place less than two years ago," they said. "We are gravely concerned that a small group of people can influence major decisions and overrule the majority just by being loud."
The FSU College Republicans said that, while Eppes was flawed, he had a profound impact on the founding of FSU.
Florida State University reports the Eppes statue was removed “early Thursday morning.” It is currently in “temporary storage,” and its future relocation site has not been determined.
