Jeff McCracken’s retirement as UNC Police chief, which was announced earlier this year, is effective Monday, and the university has named Thomas Younce as his interim replacement.

UNC – Chapel Hill Board of Trustees chair Haywood Cochrane said after a special meeting of the board last Thursday that the national search for a permanent police chief is ongoing.

“We have a number of candidates that we’re quite happy with; we’re narrowing the candidates down,” he said. “It is extremely important to us to get this right.”

Officials have said the university anticipates having a permanent police chief in place before the start of the academic year.

Much of the attention on UNC Police over the last two years has focused on its handling of protests around the Confederate monument on the campus known as Silent Sam, which was toppled last August.

Police at Silent Sam rally on August 30. Photo via Blake Hodge.

Cochrane said it is important that the police chief is able to handle these events moving forward, regardless of the final plans regarding Silent Sam.

“We happened to have a lighting rod of significant proportions in Silent Sam, but we’ve got other things and, as you know, this campus is not frightened of a protest,” he said. “So, we have to handle it the right way, with sensitivity, but we have to handle it the right way.”

That decision on the future of the Confederate monument will ultimately be decided by the university system’s Board of Governors. After that board rejected an initial plan from the campus last fall to house the monument in a new building on the Chapel Hill campus, five members were appointed to work with the campus to develop a plan for the statue’s future.

Since that vote, the deadline for a new plan to come before the board has been delayed twice and no new deadline has been set. Cochrane said conversations are continuing between the campus and system.

“We’re working closely with them on our creative ideas about the appropriate disposition of Silent Sam, whether on campus or off campus.”

Cochrane said he felt the system committee members were being receptive to the campus concerns.

“We have every reason to believe that we can come up with a solution that will be not only good for the campus but good for all the various stakeholders,” he said.

Those stakeholders, Cochrane said, included the Town of Chapel Hill and the consideration of the economic impact continued protests at the monument have had on the town.

Sign at Sutton’s on Franklin Street after closing early for protest on August 30, 2018. Photo via Blake Hodge.

“If you think about the disruption that we’ve had and the economic impact on businesses downtown, when we basically close downtown for a protest, it’s a significant impact on the Town of Chapel Hill,” Cochrane said.

The UNC System Board of Governors appeared to remain divided on the subject at its most recent meeting in May. The board chair Harry Smith said his view had evolved from his original opinion – which he described as “quick and uneducated” – that the monument be replaced where it was toppled to now considering that to be “not the right path.”

Other board members have continued to express a desire the Confederate monument be reestablished on McCorkle Place; one outgoing member of the board wrote an op-ed published in the News & Observer to that effect.

New voices are being added to the discussion at the board level as well as new members are being appointed to the system board by the North Carolina General Assembly.

Interim UNC System President Dr. Bill Roper and Interim UNC – Chapel Hill Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz have said they felt the statue should not be returned to the campus.

Related Stories
‹
North Carolina Historical Commission Meeting to Discuss Confederate Monuments
The North Carolina Historical Commission has scheduled a meeting for next week to discuss the future of Confederate monuments in North Carolina. A spotlight has been on the commission after a 2015 law passed by the Republican-led General Assembly limited the movement of “objects of remembrance” in North Carolina. The law routed requests to remove […]
Historical Commission Meeting on Parameters for Confederate Monument Public Comment Meeting
The committee that was established by the North Carolina Historical Commission to study Confederate monuments is scheduled to meet Monday afternoon to discuss parameters for an upcoming public meeting. The committee has been studying the issue over the last several months after a request from the office of Democratic Governor Roy Cooper to remove three […]
State Historical Commission Delays Confederate Monument Vote Until Spring 2018
The North Carolina Historical Commission did not take action on Friday to remove or leave in place Confederate monuments on state grounds in Raleigh. The state body instead voted to create a committee of commission members to study the issue and come back to the commission with a recommendation at the board’s April 2018 meeting. […]
Confederate Monuments Panel Discussion Wednesday at Chapel Hill Public Library
A panel discussion on Confederate monuments, including Silent Sam, is set for Wednesday night. The Town of Chapel Hill Public Library and UNC Public Humanities are partnering to present a discussion entitled “Beyond the Headlines: Confederate Monuments, Historical Memory & Free Speech.” The panel is set to discuss recent events and the monuments and memorials […]
UNC Chancellor Emeritus: Leaving Silent Sam in Place is 'Untenable'
Amid the protest against Silent Sam last Tuesday night, Chancellor Emeritus James Moeser was watching on as the crowd chanted to tear down the monument to the Confederacy. “I used to be of the mind that we should contextualize history,” Moeser told WCHL in an interview at the rally. “We need to put a plaque […]
Chapel Hill Mayor to UNC: Move Silent Sam
Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger is formally asking UNC Chancellor Carol Folt to begin the process of appealing to remove Silent Sam from the UNC campus. The Confederate monument has stood on McCorkle Place facing Franklin Street since 1913 and Silent Sam has been at the heart of local protests to remove Confederate monuments in […]
Chapel Hill to UNC: Relocate Silent Sam Away from the Town
Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger and members of the Town Council sent a letter to UNC following the voided lawsuit between the university and a pro-Confederate group. Last week, Judge Allen Baddour ruled that the Sons of Confederate Veterans lacked evidence to prove the group had legal standing to bring action against the UNC System and dismissed […]
Groups Celebrate Anniversary of Silent Sam Toppling at UNC
Singing and chanting started a rally Tuesday night celebrating the one-year anniversary of the Confederate monument on the UNC campus known as Silent Sam being toppled by protesters. A coalition of groups organized Tuesday’s event, including a land acknowledgment from a member of the Carolina Indian Circle and remarks from Barbara Sostaita with UndocuCarolina – […]
Silent Sam Decision Clouding Start of UNC Academic Year
Protesters pulled the Confederate monument known as Silent Sam down from its pedestal on McCorkle Place on the UNC campus one year ago. But the monument’s future – whether on or off campus – is still undecided. That event on August 20, 2018, was the culmination of protests calling for the university administration to remove […]
Silent Sam Decision Looms Over UNC, Search for Police Chief
Jeff McCracken’s retirement as UNC Police chief, which was announced earlier this year, is effective Monday, and the university has named Thomas Younce as his interim replacement. UNC – Chapel Hill Board of Trustees chair Haywood Cochrane said after a special meeting of the board last Thursday that the national search for a permanent police […]
›