CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) - The Latest on the debate over what to do with a Confederate statue that stood at North Carolina’s flagship university (all times local):
9:50 p.m.
Activists held a “victory party” on the campus of North Carolina’s flagship public university to celebrate the removal of the last remnants of a Confederate statue.
News outlets report that organizers gathered Tuesday night at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where they ate pizza, gave celebratory speeches and chanted, “I believe that we will win!”
Chancellor Carol Folt announced Monday that she had authorized that the pedestal that once held the statue known as “Silent Sam” be removed from a main campus quad and put into storage. Workers hauled the marble pedestal off the quad hours later.
The “Silent Sam” statue itself has been in storage since it was pulled down last August by protesters who consider it a racist symbol.
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2 p.m.
The board governing North Carolina’s public university system is forcing out the head of the state’s flagship public university hours after she ordered a toppled Confederate statue’s base removed.
Carol Folt said Tuesday she was protecting public safety by having workers haul the marble pedestal off a main quad after midnight. She also announced it would be among her final acts ahead of resigning in May.
Hours later, the statewide university system’s Board of Governors made her resignation effective at the end of this month.
The “Silent Sam” statue itself has been in storage since it was pulled down last August by protesters who consider it a racist symbol. Folt and trustees proposed putting it in a new $5 million campus history center, but that idea proved unpopular.
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12:30 p.m.
The head of North Carolina’s flagship public university says she swiftly and unilaterally ordered the removal of a toppled Confederate statue’s base because it had become a focus for continuing threats she didn’t identify.
Carol Folt said Tuesday that she acted to protect public safety by having workers haul the marble pedestal off a main quad after midnight.
The “Silent Sam” statue itself has been in storage since it was pulled down last August by protesters who consider it a racist symbol. Folt and trustees proposed putting it in a new $5 million campus history center, but that idea proved unpopular.
She told a conference call of reporters that threats have increased recently, putting the campus at what she called “serious risk.”
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5 a.m.
Crews removed remnants of a Confederate statue from the University of North Carolina hours after the school’s outgoing president ordered they be put into storage.
The university sent a statement early Tuesday confirming the work to remove the massive pedestal was happening at its Chapel Hill campus, hours after the announcement by Chancellor Carol Folt. Folt also said she was stepping down from her role at the end of the school year.
Folt said the items will be stored while their fate is decided. The statue was toppled by protesters last August.
WRAL-TV reports that crews with a large truck, a forklift and floodlights performed the removal and finished the work by 2:40 a.m., leading to cheers by a crowd that had gathered to watch.
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