Black leaders are accusing University of Georgia officials of denigrating their slave ancestors by moving forward with the relocation of remains uncovered during a campus expansion project over a year ago.

Construction workers came across 105 bodies on what was Old Athens Cemetery during an expansion of Baldwin Hall in December 2015 and archaeologists exhumed the remains. DNA samples from 30 bodies determined most of the remains were blacks believed to have been slaves, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.

The university announced plans earlier this month to respectfully relocate the remains to nearby Oconee Hill Cemetery, along with a “stately granite marker” to honor the dead. The announcement drew scorn from local black leaders who contend university officials are perpetuating the “plantation” culture by ignoring the wishes of their unknown descendants, according to Associated Press.

As workers reburied the remains in a large lot near the back of Oconee Hill Cemetery on Tuesday – carefully arranging the bodies exactly as they were found – Athens Black History Council Chairman Fred Smith complained that “they’re being placed close to their white masters again.”

Smith previously told Athens Online the original site was a “slave cemetery” and ripped UGA officials for relocating the bodies in a “mass burial.”

“That was not just a few graves. That was a cemetery,” he said. “In 2015, 2016, 2017, we still don’t have value. That was just a slap in the face.”

Michael Thurmond, the first black state lawmaker from Athens, also joined with leaders from the NAACP and others in a press conference earlier this month to urge UGA to consider alternative plans for the reburial.

“It’s no surprise to me that these remains have been disrespected,” Athens NAACP president Alvin Sheats told Athens Online.

Clarke County school board member Linda Davis, who believes she’s descended from local slaves, described UGA’s relocation of the graves as another example of the southern “plantation” mentality, the AP reports.

“I have a belief in my heart that we still live on the University of Georgia plantation,” she said.

She said UGA should publicly acknowledge the role slavery played in the university’s history, then pointed out those things are already underway – through a student exhibit on the school’s history of renting slaves to clean rooms and serve meals, as well as a faculty project to host a public symposium about the remains found near Baldwin Hall.

UGA also hosted a Confederate Constitution exhibit on Friday in the school’s library – an annual event that allows the public to review the Confederate rules on slavery spelled out on the 12-foot-long historic document.

University officials, meanwhile, have defended the decision to relocate the alleged slave remains to Oconee Hill.

“Throughout this entire process, the University has strictly followed the guidance of the State Archaeologist’s Office to reinter the remains individually, in a location close to the original site. Oconee Hill is the closest location,” UGA spokesman Greg Trevor wrote in an email to Athens Online earlier this month.

“The university has been informed by the State Archaeologist’s Office that this is the most appropriate approach.”