The chair of UNC’s faculty is discouraging faculty and graduate teaching assistants from withholding final grades to protest a plan to return the Silent Sam Confederate monument to campus.
In a letter released Friday Leslie Parise encouraged those protesting to “continue to be heard in ways that can have impact, but without further jeopardizing the students that we know you teach and care about.”
Parise also said UNC Board of Governors Chairman Harry Smith, UNC System President Margaret Spellings and UNC Chancellor Carol Folt met with a group of students and faculty, offering “a platform for dialogue with members of our campus, including students, that you will probably hear more about.”
The letter:
Online reaction the letter was swift and largely derisive.
The UNC Board of Governors is now meeting in Chapel Hill, where protesters have shown up in force. The board is allowing no public comment at the meeting. The full board session begins at 11 a.m., following a series of committee meetings.