As more details regarding the $2.5 million Silent Sam settlement between the Board of Governors and Sons of Confederate Veterans are brought to light, it has become abundantly clear that the BOG has cemented their support and complacency in upholding white supremacy.
Last month, The Daily Tar Heel published an article describing the secrecy and backdoor dealings that enabled the University to settle with the SCV and give them $2.5 million, as well as an additional $74,999. The months-long process involved secret planning and jumping through legal loopholes. And ultimately, it only confirmed what we have always known — that white supremacy still has a chokehold on this campus.
The BOG made an agreement to give the SCV $74,999, $1 less than the amount requiring approval by the North Carolina Attorney General. The BOG originally claimed this money was given to the SCV to limit its ability to display flags and banners on UNC System campuses, however, The Daily Tar Heel’s reporting shows that this was not their actual intent.
We now know that the $74,999 was intended to give the SCV enough funding to purchase the rights to the statue from the United Daughters of the Confederacy, giving them the justification to pursue a lawsuit against the University. This ultimately led to the BOG’s creation of a $2.5 million trust for the organization.
The willingness of the BOG to side with organizations that overtly support white supremacy is damning. Pursuing deals behind closed doors that meet the demands of Confederate groups is wholly unacceptable, and it’s repugnant that the governing body of public higher education in North Carolina is willing to bend to their whims.
The BOG has a responsibility to keep students safe — but it’s an obligation they have failed to follow through on, time and time again. Indeed, the lengths to which the BOG went to ensure a success for the SCV are astonishing.
UNC is a place where graduate students still aren't paid a living wage and Black students don’t receive reparations for the systemic wrongs they’ve endured. Meanwhile, members of the SCV are celebrating the receipt of $2.5 million — a payment that’s nearly 31 times greater than the organization’s expenses in the 2018 fiscal year. In fact, Kevin Stone, the commander of the SCV’s North Carolina division, wrote in an email, “What we have accomplished is something that I never dreamed we could accomplish in a thousand years, and all at the expense of the University itself.”
Suffice it to say that any settlement considered a “victory” by white supremacists is one the Editorial Board rejects categorically.
Ultimately, the settlement shows that this institution will always choose white supremacy over its students to fit their twisted definition of "justice." The UNC System prides itself on its dedication to research and innovation, yet decisions like these show just how antiquated its leaders are.
