TO THE EDITOR:
It doesn’t seem to be widely known on this campus, but the recently-passed Cultural History Artifact Management and Patriotism Act of 2015 clearly makes it illegal to remove or relocate Silent Sam. Specifically, the law defines an “object of remembrance” as “a monument, memorial, plaque, statue, marker or display of a permanent character that commemorates an event, a person or military service that is part of North Carolina’s history,” and states that “an object of remembrance located on public property may not be permanently removed.”
Under the law, an “object of remembrance” may not even be “relocated” except for preservation, construction or elimination of a safety hazard.
Even then, it can only go to a place of “similar prominence, honor, visibility, availability and access,” and can never move to a museum or cemetery unless it was originally designed for that purpose.
Go to www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2015/Bills/Senate/PDF/S22v3.pdf for the full text of the law.
I do not approve of this law for many reasons, but it clearly ties the hands of the chancellor and the trustees. Those who protest the statue must now take their case to the General Assembly.
Professor Harry Watson
Department of History
