UNC Seeks New $5M Building For Controversial ‘Silent Sam’ Statue

CHAPEL HILL, NC — Months after students pulled down “Silent Sam” in protest, leaders of the University of North Carolina are proposing building a $5 million building on the Chapel Hill campus to securely house the controversial statue of a honoring soldiers of the Confederacy.

In August, hundreds of protesters gathered on the campus to demonstrate in support of a student facing criminal charges after defacing the statue with red ink and blood in April, the News and Observer said. Protesters surrounded "Silent Sam" with tall banners, which covered protesters lashing ropes around the statue. "It fell with a loud clanging sound, and the crowd erupted into cheers," the newspaper said.

"The monument has been divisive for years, and its presence has been a source of frustration for many people not only on our campus but throughout the community," UNC Chancellor Carol Folt said following its toppling. While Folt, as well as some university trustees, were in favor of removing the statue from campus, a state law bars regarding Confederate monuments bars that option.

The plan put forward Dec. 3 calls for placing the “Silent Sam” statue in a new building, which was put forward by Folt and approved by UNC campus trustees, now faces a Dec. 14 by the state Board of Governors.

For years, pressure has mounted to remove Confederate statues throughout the U.S., and has led to the removal of numerous statues throughout the south, including those in Dallas, Kansas, as well as several monuments in New Orleans.

Over a year ago, in the wake of violence in Charlottesville, temporary fencing was erected around "Silent Sam" after protesters toppled a statue of a Civil War soldier outside the Durham County Courthouse and a statue of Robert E. Lee was found vandalized outside a chapel on the campus of Duke University.

When the statue was erected on the school's commencement day in 1913, UNC trustee Julian Carr gave a speech in praise of the Confederacy, saying that its efforts insured "the purest strain of the Anglo-Saxon is to be found in the 13 Southern States -- Praise God."

University leaders said at the time they were afraid the "Silent Sam" Confederate soldier statue that was erected on the campus grounds in 1913 will become "a flash point for violence that could spiral out of control," they wrote in a 2017 letter to Cooper requesting security resources.

Across the state in Hildebran, North Carolina Monday, members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans erected a 20-foot by 30-foot Confederate flag along Interstate 40 on a 75-foot tall flagpole to protest the statue’s removal, WSOC reported. The group reportedly wants to put up similar flags in all 100 of North Carolina’s counties.

Hildebran is about 50 miles west of Mooresville.

RELATED:

• 'Silent Sam' Confederate Statue To Be Reinstalled: UNC Official
• Protesters Pull Down UNC 'Silent Sam' Confederate Statue
• 'Silent Sam' Protest: 7 Arrests In 'Highly Charged' Demonstration

Photo: A Confederate statue, coined Silent Sam, is guarded by two layers of fence, chain and police on the campus of the University of Chapel Hill on August 22, 2017 in Chapel Hill North Carolina. Demonstrators rallied for its removal. (Photo by Sara D. Davis/Getty Images)