University of North Carolina to set up a $2.5 million charitable trust to preserve white supremacist statues

On Wednesday, a judge approved a settlement between the University of North Carolina System and Sons of Confederate Veterans over the fate of the controversial "Silent Sam" Confederate statue on the Chapel Hill campus.

Under the terms of the settlement, Sons of Confederate Veterans will take the statue off campus, and "forever maintain possession of the monument outside any of the 14 counties currently containing a UNC System campus," while UNC will set up a $2.5 million charitable trust, "using non-state funds," for "certain limited expenses related to the care and preservation of the monument, including potentially a facility to house and display the monument."

"Silent Sam" has been a source of controversy and anger on the Chapel Hill campus for years, as it and statues like it were erected to glorify the Confederate cause of preserving slavery and white supremacy in the South. The protests grew particularly inflamed after the neo-Nazi "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

In 2018, protesters toppled the statue, leading to arrests.