Statue of George Washington (Seattle)
George Washington, also known as the President George Washington Monument, is a bronze sculpture of George Washington by Lorado Taft, installed at the University of Washington campus in Seattle's University District, in the U.S. state of Washington. History. The statue was dedicated on Flag Day, June 14, 1909, during the Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition. Its permanent pedestal, measuring tall, was built by the Works Progress Administration and installed in August 1938. The pedestal had been designed by Taft in 1908 but was not funded in time for the exposition. Calls for removal. A number  of student led organizations at the University of Washington have called for the statue's removal. Most notably, the Black Student Union and the Black Lives Matter coalition (UW BLM) have publicly spoken out against the statue. UW BLM staged a month-long protest of the statue in August 2020, spray-painting the statue every day to induce a response from the administration. As of October 16, 2020 there has been no response from university officials regarding the removal of the statue. The university's student newspaper has also called for the removal of the statue in an op-ed , noting that a petition to remove the statue has reached over 3,000 signatures. This petition is asking for the George Washington statue to be replaced with a Black Power fist and to rename the cafe near the statue from the By George Cafe to the Juneteenth Cafe. According to a 2021 poll, conducted by King5 News, that surveyed 650 Washingtonians, only 29% wanted the statue removed, 59% wanted the statue to remain, and 11% weren't sure.