UNC Chancellor Carol Folt plans to resign and is taking ‘Silent Sam’ Remnants with her

CHAPEL HILL – University of North Carolina Chancellor Carol Folt announced her resignation Monday night, and caving to political pressure on the way out. Along with her plans to to get out of Dodge, Folt announced plans to remove what remains of the ‘Silent Sam’ Confederate memorial after a social justice mob tore down the statue last August.

“[…] I’ve decided that this is the right time for me to pass the leadership of our outstanding university, with all its momentum, to the next chancellor, and look ahead for my own “new and next.[…]

Second, I have authorized the removal of the base and commemorative plaques from the Confederate Monument site in McCorkle Place. As chancellor, the safety of the UNC-Chapel Hill community is my clear, unequivocal and non-negotiable responsibility. The presence of the remaining parts of the monument on campus poses a continuing threat both to the personal safety and well-being of our community and to our ability to provide a stable, productive educational environment. No one learns at their best when they feel unsafe. The independent panel of safety experts we convened in November to help us review options for the monument that we presented to the UNC Board of Governors made a strong and compelling case for risks to public safety. The fact that despite our best efforts even since then, threats have continued to grow and place our community at serious risk has led me to authorize this action.[…]”

The statue base and plaques were removed overnight.

This absurd appeasement of Leftist agitators continues right until the end with Folt. It requires a twisted, up-side-down logic – a total suspension of reason – to think that the presence of a rock statue base is what really threatens personal safety on the UNC campus.

The reality which Folt painfully contorts her statement to ignore is that it is the continual threat of mob violence from the Left that is actually posing a personal safety risk. How quickly would all of this have been put to rest if those real threats were removed from campus, and kicked out of school, for breaking the law and violating university conduct rules?

The debate about whether or not the statue should stand, or where it could reasonably be relocated, is a fine one to have. However, to further the farce that it is the inanimate pice of rock and metal causing all of these problems for the university, and not the hair-trigger hordes of perpetual victims on the Left, is truly remarkable.

Folt’s announcement was so sudden that even the UNC Board of Governors were blindsided by the news. And a little upset as well.

Said the Board chair Harry Smith Jr. in a statement:

So, not only has Folt insulted the process of reason with her kid-glove treatment of the social justice crowd, perpetuating their narrative, she also insulted the entire UNC Board of Governors.

Moreover, Folt suggested that now that the statue is completely removed, the campus and her students can get back to normalcy. That seems incredibly shortsighted, considering that the students of grievance studies sill exist in high numbers on campus, and will inevitably find something else on which to focus their outrage. Building names; street names; the university itself; all are fair game for the social justice Left if they decide it offends them.

Though, with the statement from the Board of Governors, it can be expected that this issue is actually far from over. She may have broken state law, and the Board will be taking steps to make sure they comply with those laws. That could mean a return of the statue to some part of campus, if not the original location, which would be met with another angry mob for certain. Stay tuned…