The University of North Carolina System reached a resolution to the future of the Confederate monument known as Silent Sam on Wednesday.
A court approved a consent judgement that would give possession, rights, title and interests of the statue over to the Sons of Confederate Veterans — removing UNC as the institution possessing Silent Sam. Under the terms, the university will also fund a $2.5 million charitable trust for expenses related to the care and preservation of the monument, including potentially a facility to house and display it. The money for the trust will come from non-state funds.
The North Carolina Division Sons of Confederate Veterans filed a lawsuit against the UNC System and its Board of Governors after the statue was removed from campus and no clear plans were determined on whether it would return. Protesters toppled the statue, which stood on UNC’s campus for decades, in 2018. Five members of the UNC Board of Governors were tasked in early 2019 to work with UNC-Chapel Hill to find a solution to the monument’s future that both complied with North Carolina laws protecting historical monuments and preserved the safety of the school’s campus.
In a release, the UNC System said the settlement prioritizes the safety and security of the UNC community and allows the school to focus once again on teaching and research.
“This resolution allows the university to move forward and focus on its core mission of educating students,” said UNC Board of Governors Chair Randy Ramsey.
The statue was removed from campus after its toppling in August, with its base also being removed five months later. Former UNC Chancellor Carol Folt debated over whether or not removing the statue violated a statute created by North Carolina’s General Assembly to protect monuments, memorials and parks. The statute, passed in 2015, says “objects of remembrance” can not be removed, altered or relocated without the approval of the North Carolina Historical Commission unless it is determined to pose a “threat to public safety.”
After its removal, the monument’s location was unknown until a UNC student reported finding what she believed to be Silent Sam at a UNC-owned storage facility off campus in September.
A full timeline of protests surrounding the Confederate monument can be found here.
Why did UNC give away 2.5 million dollars along with the statue? Sounds like poor negotiation to me.
$2.5 million to get rid of it permanently sounds like extortion to me. I read that the “Sons of Confederate Veterans” (SCV) didn’t even have have a case and it was clear that they didn’t have the right to sue the university and if they went to court, they’d lose. So the fact that the UNC Board of Governors gave them $2.5 million to “make an equally prominent public display at UNC’s expense” is pretty outrageous.