Ever since
protesters toppled a Confederate statue known as Silent Sam at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill last year, the college has hidden the monument from view, stashing it in storage and refusing to disclose its location.But after 15 months of hand-wringing over what to do with the statue, the university said Wednesday that it had found a resolution.As part of a settlement with the North Carolina division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans -- a Confederate group that had sued over the statue's fate -- the university handed Silent Sam over to the group and said it would fund a $2.5 million trust for its "care and preservation," according to a statement released Wednesday.The money, which would not include state funds, could pay for a facility in which the monument would be kept and displayed, the university said.Under the agreement, the group will have to keep the statue outside of any of the 14 counties with a UNC school, the university said.Jim Holmes, a member of the UNC Board of Governors, said in the statement that the agreement addressed "safety and security concerns" associated with the statue. The university had previously said that keeping the statue on campus could increase the risk of violence and property damage."We believe this consent judgment not only addresses those concerns but does what is best for the university, and the university community in full compliance with North Carolina law," Holmes said in the statement.The university did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.The statement, released on the day before
Thanksgiving, quickly drew backlash from students. The UNC Black
Congress said on
Twitter that the move effectively silenced student activists. The group said it was wrong of the university to spend up to $2.5 million to protect the statue in "another location that'll harm another community."The UNC Black Congress said the university "has still failed to ever fully interrogate their complicity with white supremacy on this campus."R. Kevin Stone, the commander of the Confederate group, said the settlement was fair. He said that his group was in possession of the statue at an "undisclosed location."He did not know specifically when his group had sued the university but said that negotiations had been going on for months. He declined to say where the statue would end up, but said there would most likely be a visitor center."We plan to make it available to the public," Stone said.The statue, which depicts a Confederate soldier holding a rifle, was proposed by the United Daughters of the Confederacy and approved by the university's board in 1908. It was unveiled in 1913.It was toppled in August 2018, amid a greater reckoning nationwide over what to do with Confederate symbols and tributes. Confederate monuments have been removed across the country, from
Los Angeles to Brooklyn.Carol Folt, the chancellor of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, resigned in January amid continued debate over the statue.The university had previously taken the position that removing the statue would be in the "best interest of the safety of our campus," but cited a 2015 state law in keeping the monument where it was. Under that law, a "monument, memorial or work of art owned by the state" may not be "removed, relocated or altered in any way" without the consent of a state historical commission.The university said in the statement Wednesday that the settlement complied with state law.This article originally appeared in The
New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company