Students at the University of Texas (UT) - Austin are seeking to have the campus' statue of a Confederate leader removed and the school is listening.

Since Dylann Roof shot and killed nine people at a historically black church in Charleston, S.C., several southern states have explored ways to remove the Confederate flag from being displayed in any sort of public manner. At UT, students have already vandalized statues of Jefferson Davis, the former Confederacy president during the Civil War, as well as Robert E. Lee and Albert Sidney Johnston, generals in Davis' army.

Rohit Mandalapu, vice president of the UT Austin's student government, told the Huffington Post he has spoken with the school's president, Gregory Fenves.

"Statues are [a] means to memorialize and glorify the ideals and values of whomever they depict," he said. "Jefferson Davis was someone who vehemently supported the institution of slavery and white supremacy. That is not in line with the university's values and does not promote the ideals of a diverse and all-inclusive university."

In a statement provided to the HP, Fenves said he plans to form a committee made up of "students, faculty members and alumni" that will address the issue.

In South Carolina, state leaders decided to remove the Confederate Flag from their capitol building, a move several college presidents and University of South Carolina head football coach Steve Spurrier supported.

In Virginia, Gov. Terry McAuliffe decided to remove the Confederate flag from the state's license plates, the Washington Post reported.

Additionally, CNN reported, major U.S. retailers like Amazon, eBay, Wal Mart and Sears announced they will stop selling merchandise with the Confederate emblem on it.

The UT student government launched a petition on Sunday directed to Fenves requesting the statue be torn down. It has received nearly 3,000 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon.

"This year marks the 150th anniversary of Juneteenth, the holiday commemorating the abolition of slavery in state of Texas," the petition reads. "However, it is apparent from headlines across the country that there is still much more room for progress. In light of recent events, there has been a national conversation about the meaning and place of the Confederate flag and symbols of the Confederacy. In the same way that the Confederate flag projects values of racial hatred, the Jefferson Davis statue memorializes a man who stood for racial inequality and bigotry."