UNC – Chapel Hill administrators are preparing to move forward with a new plan regarding the future of the Confederate monument on the campus known as Silent Sam.

The UNC System Board of Governors rejected the plan that the campus brought forward last Friday, which called for a new $5 million facility to be built on campus to house the statue and allow space for teaching and exhibits aimed at telling the full history of the university. While Chancellor Carol Folt and members of the Board of Trustees said they would prefer the monument be moved off campus, they maintained a 2015 law limiting the movement of objects of remembrance would not allow that.

The Board of Governors has now assigned five board members to work with the Chapel Hill campus to develop a new plan by March 15.

Folt wrote in a message to the campus community on Monday that the university is “grateful for the opportunity and believe it was the correct decision.”

In addition to working with the Board of Governors, Folt wrote that the campus administration wants to engage with students, faculty, staff and the community in developing the new proposal.

To do that, Folt said the university will work with the Faculty Council to include “the diverse expertise of the faculty” when working toward a new plan, meet with students and student groups “to hear directly about their top issues and work together to identify strategies for moving forward” and “determine how to enhance and support the efforts of thousands across campus, in all schools and units, who work actively to improve campus climate and culture.”

Folt said when presenting the initial Silent Sam proposal that more than 5,000 public comments were submitted to the university.

Opponents of the monument criticized the initial plan and led several protests during meetings leading up to last Friday’s vote.

“I know how difficult these past few months have been and am sorry that this semester has been so trying and painful for many as we struggle to deal properly with Silent Sam,” Folt wrote on Monday. “But as I looked out at our graduates at Winter Commencement yesterday, it reminded me how important our mission is and how many lives are changed by the work that takes place here. I told them that even through difficult times, I see a community that never stops trying to understand and learn from each other, a community determined to create lasting and positive change, and a community doing its utmost to support one another.”

Chair of the UNC System Board of Governors Harry Smith and outgoing-president of the UNC System Margaret Spellings, along with campus officials, met with some students and faculty last week before the board voted to reject the proposal for the future of Silent Sam. Smith and Folt said the meeting was productive and expressed optimism that a foundation had been laid for how future meetings with the campus community could be carried out.

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