UNC System settles with Daily Tar Heel in lawsuit over secrecy of Silent Sam deal
The Daily Tar Heel, UNC-Chapel Hill’s student-run newspaper, settled its lawsuit Monday against the UNC System for its handling of the Silent Sam Confederate monument legal agreements.
DTH Media Corp., parent company of The Daily Tar Heel, sued the UNC System, its Board of Governors and individual board members over allegations of violating North Carolina’s Open Meetings Law in January 2020.
The media group argued that the $2.5 million settlement and additional $74,999 payment between the UNC System and the N.C. Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) were “conceived, negotiated, approved and executed in total secrecy,” the lawsuit said.
As part of this settlement agreement, first reported by the DTH on Monday afternoon, the UNC System will:
- Give $74,999 to UNC-Chapel Hill for the chancellor to use for initiatives related to racial equity on campus.
- Provide a written summary addressing how the UNC System accomplished the Nov. 21, 2019 settlement agreement with the N.C. Sons of Confederate Veterans and the release of Silent Sam statue.
- Submit to a deposition, “answering questions related to the details of the December op-ed announcing the settlement,” the DTH reported.
The DTH Media Corp. agreed to dismiss its lawsuit once that happens.
DTH General Manager Erica Perel told The Daily Tar Heel this case showed the accuracy and accountability of DTH’s reporting on the issue.
“At The Daily Tar Heel, we feel very strongly that good government happens in the open, that good decisions happen when they are vetted, when the public has the opportunity to comment on them,” Perel said. “And in this case, it became clear that there was very little discussion with the Board of Governors and people who worked there, that there was very little vetting.”
How the Silent Sam deal was reached
In November 2019, the UNC System reached an agreement for UNC-CH to give the Confederate monument known as “Silent Sam” to the SCV and put $2.5 million in a trust for the group to care for it. The agreement came minutes after the SCV filed a lawsuit against the UNC System. The announcement came later that afternoon.
However, the deal was approved by the UNC Board of Governors during a private meeting of the board’s committee on university governance — after negotiating behind closed doors for months, the News & Observer previously reported. It prompted protests from students, faculty and alumni, a legal challenge from a national civil rights group and the loss of $1.5 million in grant money.
Five board members, who were named in the DTH lawsuit, had to find a solution for the Silent Sam statue, which was illegally torn down by protesters on the Chapel Hill campus in August 2018. But those five board members never held a public meeting in the 10 months after their group was formed.
Weeks after the settlement was announced, the board members wrote an op-ed explaining their decision. That was the first time the public had heard about the additional $74,999 from UNC not to display flags and banners on university campuses.
That op-ed is what drove the DTH to sue.
The DTH complaint alleged that the group of board members making these decisions about Silent Sam is a “public body” and is therefore required to conduct public meetings, give public notice and keep minutes. The op-ed showed the deals had been approved by the Board of Governors.
The group of board members “did all of its work in secret and negligently or intentionally ignored, evaded and failed to comply with the Open Meetings Law,” the complaint said.
What’s next for the Silent Sam Confederate monument?
In February 2020, Orange County Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour voided the settlement that required UNC Chapel Hill to pay $2.5 million and give the statue to the SCV. He ruled that the SCV had no legal standing to claim ownership of the statue and bring the lawsuit against the UNC System in the first place.
Baddour, a UNC graduate who originally approved the settlement, also dismissed the case.
The statue and most — but not all — of the money was returned to the UNC System.
And the fate of Silent Sam is back in the hands of the UNC System and its Board of Governors.
At the time, system leaders said the statue will not be their primary focus. They and UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz have made clear that the statue will not return to campus.
This story was originally published February 1, 2021 at 7:07 PM with the headline "UNC System settles with Daily Tar Heel in lawsuit over secrecy of Silent Sam deal."
