Following the toppling, “Silent Sam” has been in a storage facility awaiting officials to determine his fate. Looks like he’ll be in storage for a while. Carolina Journal’s Lindsay Marchello reports:
Dozens of protesters gathered in the rain outside the UNC Center for School Leadership Friday, Dec. 14, to protest the potential return of the Confederate statue dubbed “Silent Sam” to the UNC-Chapel Hill campus.
Now it looks as if the debate will continue into next year.
After a nearly three-hour closed session, the UNC System Board of Governors rejected the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees’ proposal to move Silent Sam to a $5.3 million historical center on campus. Board member Thom Goolsby was the only “no” vote. Goolsby wanted the statue restored immediately to its original site on McCorkle Place.
UNC BOG Chair Harry Smith said the board can’t support the UNC trustees’ decision because of its hefty cost and concerns over public safety on the campus.
“At the end of the day, I think the $5.3 million was very tough for a lot of us to swallow,” Smith said during a news conference after the board passed the resolution. “The goal here is to simply get this right.”
The UNC BOG resolution calls for a task force of board members to work with the UNC-Chapel Hill board to devise a new plan for Silent Sam. Board of Governors members Darrell Allison, Jim Holmes, Wendy Murphy, Anna Nelson, and Bob Rucho were chosen for the task force. The body is expected to present a new proposal no later than March 15.
Read more here.
