CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — A New York-based law firm representing 12 students and a professor at North Carolina's flagship public university is pressing the school to remove a Confederate soldier statue.
An attorney wrote Wednesday to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill officials contending the 1913 statue nicknamed "Silent Sam" violates federal anti-discrimination laws.
[READ MORE: Hundreds protest on UNC campus against 'Silent Sam' Confederate statue]
Chancellor Carol Folt has said the school lacks the legal authority to act because of a 2015 state law that prevents removing or altering a public monument.
The warning comes from Hampton Dellinger, a Durham attorney with the firm of Boies, Schiller & Flexner on behalf of the students, the professor and the Black Law Students Association.
Campus spokesman Joel Curran said Wednesday the students raised questions about federal civil rights law that will need to be addressed.
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