Pepperdine University Caves to Pressure, Will Remove Christopher Columbus Statue from Campus

Unable to hold his own against social justice warriors, Christopher Columbus is being kicked out of Southern California���s Pepperdine University, according to reporting by The College Fix.

A statue of the Italian explorer and legendary discoverer of America has been a part of Pepperdine since 1992, when it was donated to the school by a group called the Columbus 500 Congress. However, the school has decided that it���s time for Columbus to go, and so he is being removed from the ���flagship��� Malibu-area campus and relocated to the school���s campus in Italy.

Christopher Columbus has, of late, found himself to be increasingly persona non grata throughout much of America. As the distant past is re-examined through the lens of present-day political correctness, the actions of many historical figures���particularly those of Western European descent���do not pass muster in the current climate, even as there was hardly anything unusual about them in the time at which they actually occurred.

Pepperdine has seen the statue variously protested in recent years. Most recently, an organized protest took place at the statute���s location, the university amphitheater, this past Columbus Day by a couple of dozen students.  According to The College Fix, the protest group ���Waves Against Columbus��� issued a written statement at the time that referred to the statue as ���a celebration of genocide and racial oppression.���

Pepperdine president Andrew Benton announced the decision to relocate the statue in a letter to students, saying, in part:

���For years the story of Columbus and the fascinating exploration that brought him to the new world was taught in schools across America. It was heroic and exciting.  Later, as the impact of the arrival of explorers was assessed more fully, especially as those impacts related to indigenous people, a different view formed. Today, for many, including those within our campus community, stories of conquest and the art associated therewith are painful reminders of loss and human tragedy.���

Benton said, as well, of those who donated the statue that ���they did not mean to offend.���

That���s, apparently, the best we can now say about a group that donates to an American university a statue of the legendary discoverer of America:

���They did not mean to offend.���

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large