University proposes moving toppled Confederate statue into new building on campus

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.— North Carolina’s flagship university proposed Monday to move a toppled Confederate statue into a new $5 million building on the outskirts of campus, seeking to balance security with strict state historical laws at a site a mile south of where the monument previously stood.

The plan presented by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chancellor Carol Folt was overwhelmingly approved by the campus trustees, though at least one voted against it. The separate Board of Governors that oversees the statewide university system will have final say over the plan for the statue known as “Silent Sam.” The statewide board is expected to consider it at a meeting Dec. 14.

The trustees proposed a site south of the university’s hospital to build a new history and education center that would house the statue torn down by protesters in August.

The proposal said the new building in the Odum Village area of campus would cost about $5 million to build, with an estimated $800,000 in annual operating costs.

The chancellor and several of the trustees said they would have preferred moving the statue off campus entirely, but they were restricted by a 2015 state law on Confederate statues and other monuments. Folt said safety was chief among many factors considered in developing the new plan.

“It was very clear that public safety alone would make it impossible to return it to its base or any outdoor location on our campus,” she said during the meeting.