UNC student body president dissuading potential donors amid Hannah-Jones controversy

It's the latest development in the controversy swirling on campus.

UNC's student body president, Lamar Richards, has been outspoken about this cause.

UNC student body president slams university in open letter, encourages Black students to look elsewhere

He spoke with WRAL Thursday in a rare, on-camera interview.

Richards has only been in office about a month and he's already making a name for himself as someone who isn't afraid to speak up. Even when his fellow members on the University's Board of Trustees are silent.

"I wear two hats," Richards said. "I am certainly a trustee, but I am also the student body president. And I’m held accountable to 30,000 students."

As WRAL has reported, earlier this week Richards filed a request for the Board to call a special meeting to vote on giving tenure to Hannah-Jones.

Many feel the Board's reluctance to do so is political, as her most-famous work focuses on slavery's impact in America.

When asked if he feels like he has any support among other trustees to get this special meeting and to give Hannah-Jones tenure, Richards responded, "I do. I feel like some of it has been expressed to me in very direct ways."

Yet, in the meantime, Richards still expresses disappointment with school leadership.

"It’s a rough time to be at Carolina right now, to be a student at Carolina right now, a staff member or faculty of color at Carolina," he explained.

"The soul of our university is being carried single-handedly by students, and they need the financial support to do so," he said.