CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The student newspaper at North Carolina's flagship university is suing the UNC system's governing board. It says officials violated open meetings laws by secretly negotiating a deal to remove a Confederate statue from the campus.
Newspaper publisher DTH Media Corp. wants a court to void two agreements between the Board of Governors and the state chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Protesters took down the “Silent Sam” statue in 2018.
Last year, the Sons of Confederate Veterans agreed to take ownership of the statue and build a center to preserve it. The university said it would put $2.5 million into a trust to help defray costs.