Nov. 28 (UPI) -- The University of North Carolina has reached a settlement agreement to hand over a controversial Confederate statue that once stood on its campus to the state's Sons of Confederate Veterans group, ending a more than yearlong battle over what to do with the Silent Sam monument.
The university said Wednesday it has come to an agreement to give the statue to the North Carolina Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and will fund a $2.5 million charitable trust to cover expenses related to its care and preservation, potentially including a facility for its display.
The Confederate organization will "forever maintain possession" of the statue but cannot display it in any of the 14 counties containing a UNC school, the university said in a statement.
Silent Sam, erected in 1913 on UNC-Chapel Hill to commemorate its students who fought for the Confederate Army in the Civil War, was torn down by protesters in August 2018.
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The university said the settlement prioritizes the safety and security of its community and allows it to focus on teaching while providing the Confederate group with the resources it needs to preserve the statue.
"The safety and security concerns expressed by students, faculty and staff are genuine and we believe this consent judgment not only addresses those concerns but does what is best for the university," said Jim Holmes, member of the UNC Board of Governors.
However, not everyone was content with the agreement as the UNC Black Congress criticized the allocation of a fund that will preserve the statue "in another location that'll harm another community."
The group said it wasn't up to the university to decide that the issue was resolved.
"That is up to the countless student and community members whose lives have been seriously wounded by the statue, whose voices have been consistently spoken over and silenced," the UNC Black Congress said via Twitter.
R. Kevin Stone, commander of the North Carolina Sons of Confederate Veterans, said in a statement that he was "pleased" to announce that the group has obtained custody of the statue.
"We have been involved in ongoing negotiations and collaboration to achieve this outcome and we believe it is a fair result," he said.
Randy Ramsey, chair of the UNC Board of Governors, said the agreement will allow the university "to move forward and focus on its core mission of educating students."
