UNC Finalizing Process to Work Toward Silent Sam Proposal

It has now been two weeks since the Confederate monument known as Silent Sam was pulled down from its pedestal on the UNC – Chapel Hill campus. The UNC System Board of Governors last Tuesday directed Chancellor Carol Folt and the Chapel Hill campus Board of Trustees to “develop and present to the Board of Governors a plan for the monument’s disposition and preservation.” That plan is now due to the Board of Governors in mid-November.

The chancellor wrote in a message to the campus community on Friday that this decision, “for the first time,” gives the trustees and Folt “a clear path to identify a safe, legal and alternative location for Silent Sam.”

Folt added in a conference call with reporters Friday afternoon that the process would take time but did not provide a definitive timeline for steps before a presentation to the Board of Governors.

“I want to take whatever time we have,” Folt said, adding that the campus had “excellent ideas” but that “we want to be able to open that door to even more ideas.”

But gathering ideas is just one part of the upcoming task, the chancellor said.

“We do need to do work,” she said. “We need to figure out if it can be done, what does it take.”

Folt said it was too early to comment on where the statue could be placed on the UNC campus.

“We have to listen to all sides, and I will continue do that,” the chancellor said, reiterating that officials would be working to a solution that would bring a “safe and welcoming and open front door for the university.”

She added, “We do believe that there are options – many of them – to doing this without having it sit in its current location.”

UNC Board of Governors chair Harry Smith told the News & Observer that he was “disappointed” with Folt’s comments Friday, calling them a “hasty release with such strong statements on her opinion on the relocation.”

Any recommendation from the campus will need approval from the Board of Governors. At least one member of that board, Thom Goolsby, said it was his interpretation of the law that the statue must be replaced within 90 days. Goolsby was the lone board member to vote against the resolution last week directing the Chapel Hill campus to come up with a plan regarding the Confederate monument.

Folt said on Friday that she hoped to have more details regarding the next steps of the process in considering the future of the memorial this week.

Since the monument was pulled down, there have been two additional rallies bringing those with opposing views about the monument’s presence on campus to dueling protests around the remaining base of the monument.

There have been 17 arrests in connection with the three rallies since August 20.