Probe: Miscommunication over barriers preceded fall of 'Silent Sam'
An investigative report says the University of North Carolina declined to put up portable barricades around a Confederate statue the night it was toppled because of concerns they would be unsightly.
Posted — UpdatedAn investigative report said that the campus police chief believed the concerns from Chancellor Carol Folt's office amounted to a directive not to use the barriers. Folt said she hadn't meant for her concerns to be perceived as an order, according to the report.
Media representatives of the university system and the Chapel Hill campus declined to make further comment.
Folt announced her resignation from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Monday while authorizing the removal of what was left of the controversial monument.
Work crews then spent the night pulling up the granite base of the "Silent Sam" statue from its century-old location on McCorkle Place and loading it onto a flatbed truck for removal. The statue itself has been in storage since protesters pulled it down in August.
Folt initially planned to resign following the school's graduation in May, but the UNC Board of Governors on Tuesday announced Jan. 31 would be her last day.
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