The UNC Board of Trustees announced their decision to move the controversial Silent Sam statue to a new building on campus for display.
According to News & Observer, the university wants to construct an entirely new building to display Silent Sam and other historical items. The building will be deemed the University History and Education Center and will be on campus at Odum Village, a site that was previously used to house students’ families. Potentially, the center would have classrooms and shuttles that link it to campus.
The center would cost $5.3 million to build, plus another $800,000 in annual operating costs, according to a report distributed at the meeting. If approved, a likely completion date would be early 2022.
The decision sparked protest from the UNC-Chapel Hill community and caused individuals to rally at 7 p.m. on Monday night, at the Peace and Justice Plaza on Franklin Street.
This proposal was announced during an 8 a.m. meeting at The Carolina Inn on Monday and will be presented to the Board of Governors for approval later this month, which is the last step in making the decision permanent.
An email from UNC Chancellor Carol Folt was sent out to students early Monday afternoon. Folt expressed her support for the newly proposed center.
“We have a long and important history to tell, and the Center will offer us an excellent opportunity to tell it all,” Folt said in an email. “We are the only public university to have experienced our nation’s history from the start… All of these subjects will be covered in the proposed Center. Our unique legacy demands that we be truthful and continue to examine with our past and with our future.”
In an ABC News article, Folt and other trustees stated that they would have preferred to move the statue to an off campus location, but were restricted by 2015 state laws, which dictate the NC Historical Commission as the deciding factor in whether a monument can be moved. If moved, the new spot for the monument must be of “similar prominence.”
In the meantime, Silent Sam will be kept in an unknown safe and secure location until the new building is ready.
Savannah Putnam, UNC Student Body President, strongly disagrees with the Board of Trustees and Folt’s decision.
“Today, when the proposal was announced, I voted ‘no,’” Putnam said. “Silent Sam does not need to be on UNC’s campus. As I said in an earlier statement today, while I understand the idea of lawful and unlawful acts and what the board is trying to pursue, I definitely cannot support a Confederate monument being put anywhere on this campus. I and other students simply cannot support getting behind that notion.”
