Students and faculty gathered on UK’s campus Monday night to further discuss Confederate monuments in the country and in Lexington specifically.

The event was titled “Perspectives: History, Heritage, Hatred.”

A video presentation showed students’ thoughts on the statues controversy, including their opinions on what should be done with the statues. UK history professors also shared their opinions. After the video, a panel led a discussion.

One student in the video, Eric Williams, said the statues should be removed but not completely destroyed.

“These statues are a part of history and they should be put someplace where we can understand the history behind them,” Williams said.

Williams said that if Americans remove all statues of people associated with slavery, does that mean statues of George Washington will be removed?

Advertisements of the event said Mayor Jim Gray would be in attendance, but a member of his staff, Chief Innovation Officer Scott Shapiro, attended in his place.

Scott said that Gray wants the people of Lexington to be involved in the conversation about the statues.

“These symbols do matter,” Shapiro said. “For years they have been ignored, and now they aren’t.”

The event was hosted by the College of Law Diversity Committee, in collaboration with the Media Depot, the Media Arts and Studies Program and the Department of Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Studies.