Editorial: Leadership failures paved way for misguided Silent Sam deal

CBC Editorial: Thursday, Dec. 19, 2019; Editorial #8492
The following is the opinion of Capitol Broadcasting Company.

Imagine, in the midst of the turmoil over the 1963 Speaker Ban Law, University of North Carolina President Bill Friday handed the leader of the protesters a check for $74,999 NOT to appear on the campus – and another $2.5 million to build a meeting hall for gathering and hearing those deemed inappropriate for appearances on UNC campuses.

As far-fetched as that notion might have been 56 years ago, it is not so absurd today.

How could anyone – much less the president of one of the nation’s foremost pillars of public higher education and academic freedom and the chairman of its board of governors – think it is a good idea to pay the Sons of Confederate Veterans a dime to do anything?

Did anyone in the discussions of the Silent Sam settlement ask: What does this settlement say about the moral fiber of this University? What message does this send to our students and alumni?

Was the atmosphere so insular, the perspectives of the now-famous gang of five negotiators (UNC Board members Jim Holmes, Darrell Allison, Wendy Murphy, Anna Nelson and Bob Rucho) so inbred that they couldn’t see past merely making a problem go away? As is now quite evident, it is just as important to address HOW to make a problem go away.

Why would they rig the payment to avoid the legal scrutiny of the state’s attorney general? Why do they accept the legitimacy of the state’s monuments law – passed to protect these Jim Crow-era symbols of white supremacy? Do they really believe that UNC doesn’t own Silent Sam, a fixture on the campus for more than 100 years? Do the Moreheads own the Bell Tower and the planetarium? Do the Kenans own the football stadium?

More than anyone, UNC Board of Governor’s Chair Randy Ramsey and UNC President Bill Roper guard the integrity of our universities. This situation was a tough test for the two leaders and they failed. This deal must go away. It must be nullified. If not, they should consider whether they have what it takes to lead the university system in the future.

Doing the wrong thing isn’t any more correct just because you can get an official to tell you “there was no legal impediment.”

Here’s the message that the UNC Board Gang of Five sent in their recent statement on behalf of their fellow UNC Board members:

-- Legitimizing racism is acceptable under the guise of developing “a lawful solution that protects public safety, preserves the monument and its history, and allows the University to focus on its core educational mission.”

Whose public safety is being protected? Legitimizing a mythic, distorted and racist re-writing of history is NOT focusing on a core educational mission.

The group-think desperation for ANY solution just to make a problem go away had the typical result. It fanned the flames of controversy. They will not be extinguished until this deal is nullified.