Days after a Confederate statue, Silent Sam, was toppled by protesters at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, the school is looking for an alternative location to reinstall it.
“UNC System Board of Governors gave the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees and me a clear path to identify a safe, legal and alternative location for Silent Sam,” University chancellor Carol L. Folt said.
On August 20, hundreds of protesting students gathered around the statue asking the officials to erect an alternative monument, saying the installed one signified white supremacy. The statue was toppled the same day amid tensions between police and protestors, while the school termed the development as “unlawful and dangerous.”
Chancellor Folt who sought the return of the Confederate statue said that people from different communities see different meanings attached to it.
“Apart from the anger and hatred that has been expressed, there are different meanings attached to this monument by different people in our communities,” Folt said.
“I hope we can agree that there is a difference between those who commemorate their fallen and people who want a restoration of white rule. Reconciliation of our past and our present requires us to reach deep into our hearts and across the state to the people we serve.”
The university’s Board of Trustees has been asked by the System Board of Governors to present a plan for restoration of the monument by November 15, 2018.