UNC Faculty Chair: Committee had Productive Silent Sam Discussion

Leslie Parise announced late last month that she would be stepping down from her role as faculty chair. She joked during her address to the Board of Trustees University Affairs committee on Wednesday that leaving two years into the three-year appointment was fitting with recent university turnover.

“Because, as you know, interim is kind of the thing around here,” she said. “So, why not this position as well?”

Parise wrote to the faculty when announcing her decision to step down that choice “was not easy” because of her “desire to continue working on the faculty’s behalf, particularly given the recent transitions in senior leadership.”

UNC – Chapel Hill and the UNC System are both working with key positions currently being held on an interim basis. But Parise said Wednesday that the system’s flagship campus was in good position with Kevin Guskiewicz as the interim chancellor.

“Kevin and I go back a few years, and we have so enjoyed working with each other on various committees,” Parise said. “But this university is in great hands with Kevin as the chancellor, regardless of who is in this position.”

Parise pointed to the recent statements and responses from Guskiewicz as heartening to faculty members. Guskiewicz has responded to multiple instances in recent weeks. He announced the formation of a campus safety commission and a review of an incident after at least one Confederate supporter brought a firearm onto the campus last month. Campus police are also investigating what Guskiewicz described as “racist actions” on the campus after two instances of vandalism last weekend.

“Faculty have really appreciated the very rapid communications that you’ve brought in recent events,” Parise told Guskiewicz Wednesday. “It means a lot to them.”

This is all happening as the campus and university system are discussing the future of the Confederate monument known as Silent Sam that was on the Chapel Hill campus for more than 100 years. Protesters toppled the statue last August before then-chancellor Carol Folt ordered the removal of the statue’s remaining base in mid-January.

Parise said a faculty committee met recently with members of the Board of Governors who are working to outline a plan for the future of the monument.

“I thought it was a really good meeting,” she said. “There was dialogue back and forth. And the faculty on the committee did an excellent job of presenting different viewpoints and different stories of why it should not return to campus.”

The initial mid-March deadline for a plan for Silent Sam’s future was pushed back until May.