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UNC Board Wants Independent Review Of Police Response To Silent Sam Protest

Police stand guard after the confederate statue known as Silent Sam was toppled by protesters on campus at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, Monday, Aug. 20, 2018. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

The UNC Board of Governors plans to hire an outside firm to look at how the university and police handled the protest where the statue known as Silent Sam was brought down.

The News and Observer reports that the board's chairman, Harry Smith, wants more information about what did and didn't happen during Monday's rally.

Another board member, former Republican State Senator Thom Goolsby, has posted a YouTube video with his questions about the incident and any plans to repair and re-install the monument.

There was one arrest during the demonstration, and some have questioned what is being seen as a hands-off police response.

No timeline has been given for the investigation, or for any decisions about the future of the statue.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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