Fresno State University in California will remove its campus monument to Cesar Chávez in the wake of disturbing sexual abuse allegations against the Chicano civil rights leader.

Located not far from where Chávez helmed the farm workers movement in the 1960s, Fresno State erected a statue in his honor in 1996. Since then, the bronze sculpture, created by Paul A. Suarez, has stood among likenesses of other nonviolent movement leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., in the school’s Peace Garden.

Another public college, California State San Marcos, said it would cover its 1997 sculpture of Chávez created by T.J. Dixon and James Nelson, and would deliberate further actions in the coming days. Cultural institutions across the state, including the California Museum in Sacramento, also pledged to remove laudatory references to the figure from public display.…