Briefs

UNC Board of Governors to meet in “special session by conference call” following Silent Sam settlement

By: - December 10, 2019 10:00 am

The UNC Board of Governors will meet on Friday Dec. 13  “special session by conference call,” the UNC System announced in a public notice Tuesday.

The meeting comes in the wake of the controversial settlement in which the UNC System will give the Sons of Confederate Veterans the Confederate monument known as Silent Sam — along with $2.5 million.

Student and faculty groups at UNC-Chapel Hill and some members of the full board of governors oppose the deal.

Friday’s meeting will include a closed session during which the board will hear a report from UNC System Interim President Bill Roper and UNC System General Counsel Tom Shanahan.

“Due to its conflicting with commencement activities, this meeting has been on the calendar but as ‘optional, only if necessary,” said UNC System spokesman Jason Tyson.

The chairman designated the meeting a special session last month, Tyson said.

Committee meetings on Thursday, before the full board conference call, will include the Budget and Finance, University Governance and Personnel and Tenure committees.

The University Governance committee will hold a closed session that includes a legal affairs report from Shanahan and the approval of the closed session minutes from the board’s meetings of Nov. 14 and Nov. 27. The closed session on the 27th was the meeting in which the Silent Sam settlement was approved by that committee. A full vote of the board was never taken.

The board is also expected to vote on making Interim UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz the next full chancellor at the school. The Personnel and Tenure committee will discuss an “executive personnel matter” in closed session Thursday.

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Joe Killian
Joe Killian

Investigative Reporter Joe Killian's work examines government, politics and policy, with a special emphasis on higher education, LGBTQ issues and extremism.

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