Leaving the Judge Baylor statue in place serves as a hateful reminder of Baylor’s past in a place intended to remember the lives of the enslaved people who built the original Independence campus. Allowing the statue to stand in the heart of campus diminishes the value of Baylor’s efforts to create a more diverse and inclusive campus.

The commission detailed in their December 2020 report that it’s necessary for the university to “publicly and visibly” recognize Baylor’s founders and original trustees as slaveowners to tell a more complete story.