After two pro-Confederate demonstrators visited a memorial honoring enslaved and free African Americans on UNC’s campus, the university police department said officers did not witness any vandalism of the site.
Posts from social media on Saturday showed two white men sitting on the Unsung Founder Memorial on UNC’s campus, holding Confederate flags and using derogatory slurs toward Black people. In videos shared by the UNC Anti-Racists Alerts Twitter account, which is not affiliated with the university, one of the men is heard sharing comments about how he believes “it would be nice to have a couple of slaves” and how he wished to deface the monument with “acid.”
UNC Police Department shared a statement with Chapelboro on Monday, saying it was notified of the men’s presence on campus Saturday. The release said four officers responded to the scene to “observe the two individuals in the area until they left campus after about an hour.” Officers did not witness vandalism of the Unsung Founder Memorial and neither of the two men had a history of being removed from the campus.
“As UNC-Chapel Hill is a public university and state agency,” said George Battle, the Vice Chancellor for Institutional Integrity and Risk Management for UNC, “we must allow demonstrations and free speech, in accordance with the First Amendment and North Carolina Campus Free Speech Act, even when it does not align with the values of our campus.”
Vandalism is defined as damage, injury or destruction to any real property, either of a public or private nature. The crime is a Class 1 misdemeanor and carries a maximum penalty of 120 days in jail and a discretionary fine.
Members of UNC’s Class of 2002 built the Unsung Founder Memorial in 2005 on McCorkle Place. The monument’s inscription honors the BIPOC people “bond and free, who helped build the Carolina that we cherish today.”
Improving visibility and creating signs forbidding visitors to sit on the monument is one of the UNC Black Student Movement’s requests to university leadership. Students recently held a press conference to reshare 13 demands they have for UNC to better improve its inclusion, safety and experience for its Black members of the campus community.
UNC Vice Chancellor for University Communications Joel Curran shared a statement about the Unsung Founders Memorial through the university’s media relations, saying the monument is a high priority for the school’s Commission on History, Race, and a Way Forward.
“Chancellor [Kevin] Guskiewicz asked the commission to examine broader plans for the Unsung Founders Memorial in its initial charge,” wrote Curran. “Protecting the monument from vandalism and ensuring the monument is treated appropriately and respected remains a priority for the University.”
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