President William Powers will soon be appointing a committee to decide what should be done with the statues on the South Mall. The general sentiment seems to be that the statues of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Albert Sidney Johnston, James Stephen Hogg, John Reagan (the Confederates) and Woodrow Wilson should either be reassembled in a small, inconspicuous area on the West Mall or placed in some museum.

Which museum? The Blanton? I doubt it. If they go to the Bob Bullock Texas Historical Museum, my guess is that more harm would be done than if they were kept on the South Mall, where students typically pay them little mind.

In any case, the idea is to segregate the segregationists.

I'm not convinced that the desire to move the statues is a good one. The men represented are part of the heritage of Texas and should not be denied or in effect locked in a closet. Almost all of us have risen above the racial prejudices of those men, but it is worth reminding ourselves where we came from and what we could return to if we are not attentive to the past. Out of sight, out of mind does not always serve morality.

I think the UT community should contemplate those statues and think about the harm those men did. They may then contemplate whether our current federal and state leaders will look as bad in a century as those men do today.

Will George W. Bush look more morally enlightened than Woodrow Wilson, the founder of the League of Nations? If today's leaders had been born in the early 19th century, would they have owned slaves? Shouldn't we be doing more today to improve our political leadership than planning the relocation of bronze images?

Behind the sentiment to segregate the segregationists is, I suspect, a self-perceived moral superiority. I'm leery of self-perceptions in general and perceptions of moral superiority in particular. We will probably feel good if we herd the statues to another location or corral them in a museum. Feeling good for doing this, we may not feel the need to do something more substantive.

Instead of moving the statues, I suggest that new statues, whether they honor Cesar Chavez, Barbara Jordan or someone else - why not honor Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin or Albert Einstein - be built opposite the old statues and perhaps a bit higher. It would be appropriate for the new statues of the people we admire to share the same space as the statues of people who did not want to share Texas or the United States with those we honor today.

It may also be appropriate to add a plaque on the South Mall that clearly states our current enlightened views. However, we should be discreet. If we erect statues of people who were carnivores, they may be as morally abhorrent to next century's vegans and vegetarians as the Confederates and Woodrow Wil-son are to some of us.

Finally, if some of the statues on the South Mall should be moved, then let's not be half-hearted. The statue of George Washington, who was a slave-holder, should be removed, and Hogg Memorial Auditorium should be renamed.

Martinich is the Vaughan Centennial Professor in Philosophy and a professor of history and government.

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