UNC Official Orders Overnight Removal Of ‘Silent Sam’ Pedestal

CHAPEL HILL, NC — Citing safety concerns, University of North Carolina Chancellor Carol Folt ordered the removal of the pedestal of the controversial “Silent Sam” Confederate soldier statue overnight, hours after making a surprise announcement that she would be resigning her post after spring graduation.

“As chancellor, the safety of the UNC-Chapel Hill community is my clear, unequivocal and non-negotiable responsibility,” she said in an open email to the UNC community Monday, the News & Observer reported. “The presence of the remaining parts of the monument on campus poses a continuing threat both to the personal safety and well-being of our community and to our ability to provide a stable, productive educational environment. No one learns at their best when they feel unsafe.”

Around 1 a.m. Tuesday morning, workers armed with a forklift and straps hoisted the statue's pedestal away from the spot it has occupied on UNC’s campus for more than a century.

Folt’s decision to have the pedestal removed comes less than a year after protestors pulled the bronze statue down from its base and weeks after protests erupted following a proposal made by school trustees to house the statue in a $5.3 million building to be constructed on the edge of campus. That proposal was voted down by UNC’s Board of Governors Dec. 14.

Over a year ago, in the wake of violence in Charlottesville, temporary fencing was erected around "Silent Sam" after protesters toppled a statue of a Civil War soldier outside the Durham County Courthouse and a statue of Robert E. Lee was found vandalized outside a chapel on the campus of Duke University.

For years, pressure has mounted to remove Confederate statues throughout the U.S., and has led to the removal of numerous statues throughout the south, including those in Dallas, Kansas, as well as several monuments in New Orleans.

RELATED:

• Protests Erupt At UNC Following 'Silent Sam' Building Proposal
• UNC Seeks New $5M Building For Controversial 'Silent Sam' Statue
• 'Silent Sam' Confederate Statue To Be Reinstalled: UNC Official
• Protesters Pull Down UNC 'Silent Sam' Confederate Statue
• 'Silent Sam' Protest: 7 Arrests In 'Highly Charged' Demonstration

Photo: A Confederate statue, coined Silent Sam, is guarded by two layers of fence, chain and police on the campus of the University of Chapel Hill on August 22, 2017 in Chapel Hill North Carolina. Demonstrators rallied for its removal. (Photo by Sara D. Davis/Getty Images)