In a carefully worded letter to students this afternoon, UNC-Chapel Hill’s interim chancellor seemed to suggest that North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein had signed off on the controversial settlement between UNC’s Board of Governors and the Sons of Confederate Veterans over the disposition of Silent Sam.
That settlement included a $2.5 million payment that will allow the SCV to build a museum for the monument—and, according to a letter SCV Commander Kevin Stone sent his members, a new headquarters for the neo-Confederate group as well.
“The BOG’s proposal to enter into the settlement agreement with the Sons of the Confederate Veterans (SCV) was reviewed and authorized by the N.C. Attorney General and a consent judgment was signed by a Superior Court Judge,” Interim Chancellor Kevin M. Guskiewicz wrote to students. “The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was directed by the UNC System to turn over possession of the monument. The UNC System also directed UNC-Chapel Hill to transfer non-state funds to the System, which we did from unrestricted accumulated investment earnings.”
His message came a day after more than a hundred students, faculty, and residents protested the settlement on campus.
The attorney general’s office had closed for the day, and Stein could not be reached for comment.
However, the wording Guskiewicz employed might be important.
“The BOG’s proposal to enter into the settlement agreement with the Sons of the Confederate Veterans (SCV) was reviewed and authorized by the N.C. Attorney General and a consent judgment was signed by a Superior Court Judge,”
That could suggest that Stein gave the BOG the go-ahead to settle with the SCV—a questionable decision, considering the SCV likely didn’t have the legal standing to sue—but did not review the actual consent decree, which included the $2.5 million payout.
“I know many of you oppose the payment to the charitable trust and object to the SCV displaying the monument anywhere,” Guskiewicz wrote. “I understand, appreciate and empathize with those sentiments. The settlement ensures the monument will never return to campus, but issues of racism and injustice persist, and the University must confront them. … We have a lot of work to do to thoroughly address and reconcile with our past.”
It’s almost impressive that he managed to squeeze “reconciling with our past” and “paying neo-Confederates $2.5 million to build a shrine to white supremacy” into the same letter.
Read the entire thing here:
Contact Raleigh news editor Leigh Tauss at ltauss@indyweek.com.
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