West Point scrubbing Confederacy items including bust of former superintendent Robert E. Lee

Students returning to West Point next semester may notice a bit of the school's history missing.

The upstate New York military academy is removing 13 items that reference the Confederacy, including a portrait and bust of General Robert E. Lee, its superintendent before the Civil War, the Washington Examiner reports.

West Point made the removals following Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's approval of a congressional commission's recommendations. The school said the "historical artifacts will be professionally and respectfully handled" and "relocated to appropriate sites, including museums or other suitable venues."

The Naming Commission, created by the House and Senate Armed Services committees last year, will next consider items at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.