CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ Silent Sam, the Confederate statue that stood on the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill's campus before it was torn down by protesters in 2018, is now in the hands of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
And the organization will have access to up to $2.5 million to transport and preserve the monument through a trust set up by the UNC System.
A judge entered a consent judgment Wednesday morning in a lawsuit filed by the North Carolina Division Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc. against the UNC System and the Board of Governors over the monument's placement.
The settlement prioritizes the safety and security of the university community, including students, faculty, staff, and visitors, the UNC System said in a news release. The announcement came after the board's university governance committee met Wednesday.
As part of the agreement, Silent Sam can't be erected in any of the 14 counties that have a UNC System university in them.
The fate of Silent Sam has been in flux for more than a year as UNC leaders and members of the UNC System Board of Governors have been discussing what to do with the controversial monument dedicated to UNC alumni who fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War.
Months after the statue fell in August 2018, former UNC-CH Chancellor Carol Folt ordered the removal of the pedestal that hoisted it. And its remains have been in storage since it was moved from McCorkle Place, though one UNC student said she had found the location where it is stored.
The debate over what should happen to the 8-foot-tall bronze statue began when protesters illegally toppled it. The decision was initially in the hands of UNC campus trustees and Folt. The UNC System Board of Governors took control of the process in December 2018 after rejecting UNC's proposal of building a $5.3 million history center on the edge of campus to house the statue.
Board of Governors members Jim Holmes, Darrell Allison, Wendy Murphy, Anna Nelson and Bob Rucho were put on a committee and tasked with finding a solution.
Now, the statue will be returned to descendants of soldiers who fought for the South in the Civil War, the ones who had it built more than 100 years ago.
In 1908, the Board of Trustees at UNC-CH approved a request from the North Carolina division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy to build a Confederate monument. Five years later, in June 1913, the statue arrived on campus for its dedication ceremony.
After 105 years of standing in the heart of campus, the statue is gone, but anti-racist activists have said the fight isn't over.
They've held protests and used social media to call out UNC's dozens of places on campus "dedicated to enslavers and white supremacists," including Kenan Stadium.
UNC has made efforts to reckon with its history, and interim chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz has said there's still work to be done.
"I heard first-hand how the events of the past year have impacted our campus," Guskiewicz told the News & Observer earlier this year. "We have a lot of work to do to truly create a diverse and inclusive environment."
