First-years, we know it can be difficult to be aware of exactly which issues to keep up with in terms of news when you arrive on campus. You’re too busy trying to adjust to classes and college life to really pay attention to anything going on within the University and its administration. Now that you have a semester under your belt, we think there are a few headlining issues that began before you arrived on campus but are important to know and stay updated on.
Conveniently, The Daily Tar Heel has topic pages which include links to all the articles written about an issue on campus linked in one place, so you can get updated quickly. For all of the issues we reference in this editorial, we will link to its topic page. A full list of topics pages can be found here.
The issues:
Academic-athletic scandal
The NCAA's allegations are a hot topic on campus seeing as the organization has yet to make its final ruling. From around 1992 to 2010, UNC offered fraudulent classes to student-athletes and other students. After years of speculation, in 2014 the Wainstein report revealed more details on the academic-athletic scandal. The academic integrity of the University has been called into question, and recent allegations revolve around a lack of institutional control rather than academics. This will catch you up to date, but continue following the scandal to see what the NCAA decides and what consequences the University could face.
Saunders Hall/Zora Neale Hurston/Carolina Hall
In 2015, Saunders Hall became Carolina Hall. Activists had long been pushing for the building to remove William Saunders’ name because of his leadership in the Ku Klux Klan. The Real Silent Sam Coalition proposed that Saunders Hall be renamed Hurston Hall after Zora Neale Hurston, a renowned 20th-century African-American writer. Instead, the Board of Trustees chose the name Carolina Hall in an attempt to create “unity.” Many students of color felt silenced by this action as their motion for commemoration of an African-American figure of history was virtually ignored. Along with the renaming of Saunders Hall to Carolina Hall, the board put a 16-year moratorium on the renaming of any campus buildings and monuments.
Unsung Founders Memorial and Silent Sam
The Class of 2002 chose to create the Unsung Founders Memorial as the class gift to the school. The memorial is a table in McCorkle Place near the Silent Sam statue of a Confederate solider. The Unsung Founders Memorial was intentionally placed as a credit to enslaved people and under-appreciated Black people who contributed greatly to the University’s history. Complaints over people using it as a table or diaper changing station have lead to people questioning its effectiveness as a memorial. Silent Sam, meanwhile, has been a point of contention since the 1960s when people began to view it as a symbol of racism. At the dedication of Silent Sam in 1913, speaker Julian Shakespeare Carr discussed horsewhipping a “negro wench.” Many point to Carr’s speech and the rise of white nationalism in the early 20th century as proof that the statue was erected with racist intentions.
