The University of Wyoming campus is filled with plaques and statues, each with a unique meaning. One of the most noticeable, prominent, and controversial is the University Family Statue in Prexy’s Pasture.
The statue is made from white carrara marble, the only one made of the material on campus, and shows a man, woman, and child hugging one another. It was built in 1983 by artist Robert Russin, creator of the Benjamin Franklin Statue at UW, and the Abraham Lincoln Memorial off I-80.
Despite being on campus for 40 years, members of the UW community often wonder what the rhetoric behind the statue is. Some have argued the statute is not inclusive of people who don’t come from nuclear families and people of color.
Others criticize how the statue has been damaged by the Laramie weather. After four decades it is now chipped and cracked in certain parts.
The statute has also been vandalized multiple times out of protest and garnered enough attention to be addressed twice in the Associated Students of the University of Wyoming (ASUW)
In 2012 by a 23-4 vote, ASUW decided to remove the statue and replace it with a western-themed one. In doing so, the University Family Statue would be moved south of Knight Hall. The project was estimated to cost $125,00 with $100,000 of that going to the new statue and the other $25,000 going to the relocation of the family.
Despite these efforts, the bill was never put into effect.
Most recently, in 2016, ASUW passed a bill in opposition of the statue’s current placement and requested the public art committee to reach out to students to try and find a better location.
Seven years later, the statue remains untouched and unmoved.
