A public comment session on the Confederate monument at UNC known as Silent Sam will be held on Wednesday as part of the university’s Board of Trustees meeting.

Board chair Haywood Cochrane said during his remarks at the September board meeting that the board would hold a public comment session amid the ongoing protests of the statue.

Cochrane repeated in a message to the campus community that the public hearing was coming at the suggestion of Chancellor Carol Folt. Cochrane wrote that a fundamental part of the board’s mission is to provide for the “safety, welfare, and well-being of our campus community.”

The public comment session will include a maximum of 25 speakers allotted three minutes each. Cochrane wrote that the board would “make sure that at least 10 students will have the opportunity to speak.”

A portal was launched online on Friday evening and closed on Sunday afternoon for those wishing to sign up to speak. Those who would like to comment on Silent Sam but did not receive one of the available slots can still submit comments to the board through e-mail – publicbot@unc.edu – or by leaving a hard copy of comments in a box at Wednesday’s public comment session.

The session is scheduled to begin at nine o’clock Wednesday morning in the Chancellor’s Ballroom at the Carolina Inn.

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