Sons of Confederate Veterans
New ‘Silent Sam’ revelations contradict past public assurances offered by UNC Chancellor Guskiewicz
In December 2019, Kevin Guskiewicz, then the new UNC-Chapel Hill chancellor, appeared before a concerned and angry Faculty Council. The UNC System had just announced its Board of Governors had settled a lawsuit with the NC Sons of Confederate Veterans. The settlement would not only give the group the controversial Silent Sam Confederate monument but also $2.5 million in trust to care for it.
Civil rights group declares victory in ‘Silent Sam’ case
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law declared victory in a Silent Sam case today after an Orange County Superior Court dismissed the controversial lawsuit between the group known as the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the University of North Carolina over the “Silent Sam” statue. In a news release, the committee announced it […]
Silent Sam lawsuit dismissed, statue returned to custody of UNC-Chapel Hill
A Superior Court judge has dismissed the Sons of Confederate Veterans lawsuit over the “Silent Sam” Confederate monument at UNC-Chapel Hill, bringing to a conclusion the latest chapter in a decades-long controversy over the statue. In an order filed Friday, Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour said the court is satisfied that the statue has been […]
Judge approves $82,000 spent from “Silent Sam” settlement trust
An Orange County Superior Court Judge approved more than $82,000 in spending from the $2.5 million awarded to the Sons of Confederate Veterans in an invalidated legal settlement with the UNC System. Judge Allen Baddour scrapped the controversial settlement in February, finding the Confederate heritage group had no standing to sue for ownership of the […]
Silent Sam settlement scrapped — but questions remain
As Policy Watch reported yesterday, an Orange County Superior Court Judge effectively scrapped the UNC System’s controversial “Silent Sam” legal settlement with the NC Sons of Confederate Veterans Wednesday. The group will not keep the Confederate monument that was toppled by protesters in 2018 or the $2.5 million UNC had agreed to pay in a […]
Dellinger: Discarded UNC plan dooms Silent Sam deal and any proposed campus return
Since the UNC Board of Governors unveiled its sweetheart package for the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV), critics of the payoff have uncovered witnesses and documents that should lead fair-minded observers to conclude that the outlay is unwarranted. As the agreement currently stands, the SCV gets possession of “Silent Sam,” the Confederate monument that towered […]
UNC Historian delves into true history of “Silent Sam” in court brief
When attorneys for the UNC Board of Governors and N.C. Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans appeared in court last month to defend a the controversial “Silent Sam” legal settlement, they were frank about their goal. “The Board of Governors did not want to win this case,” said Ripley Rand, the former U.S. Attorney […]
Text messages further illuminate judge’s involvement in Silent Sam deal
Text messages between the attorney for the UNC Board of Governors and the judge who approved its controversial Silent Sam settlement with the NC Sons of Confederate Veterans show communications well before the deal lawsuit was settled or the board of governors approved the terms of the deal. As first reported by WBTV Tuesday, Orange […]
UNC law professor: Silent Sam deal an “investment in falsehood”
Just before the holidays, five members of the UNC System Board of Governors defended the Board’s decision to pay $2.5 million to the Sons of Confederate Veterans to house and display the Confederate monument known as Silent Sam. The Sons of Confederate Veterans are purveyors of what historians call the myth of the Lost Cause […]
UNC’s Silent Sam settlement, a bad deal executed very poorly
The Daily Tar Heel, a student-run newspaper, is in the midst of a serious role reversal with the adults over at the UNC Board of Governors. That much is clear following the paper’s inherently logical suit charging the UNC board violated our state’s open meeting laws when they negotiated a $2.5 million settlement with the […]
New revelations on UNC system’s Silent Sam settlement
The UNC system made a series of new revelations Monday about its $2.5 million settlement with the N.C. division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. After weeks of silence from the UNC Board of Governors over the controversial settlement, five board members published an op-ed piece in the News & Observer in which they defended the […]
Post-Silent Sam settlement, UNC has lost any claim to the high ground
I confess that I have the dubious pleasure of having interviewed members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans multiple times in my career. But these days, after the UNC Board of Governors drunkenly pitched North Carolina’s university system into the abyss — handing over $2.5 million to the organization to bypass its extraordinarily dubious legal […]