North Carolina

Report: UNC Chapel Hill police, administrators unprepared before 'Silent Sam' statue toppled

RALEIGH, N.C. — An investigation finds police and administrators at North Carolina's flagship public university were unprepared for demonstrators who tore down a campus Confederate memorial, but likely didn't conspire on the statue's removal.

Those are some of the findings released Friday from a report prepared for the statewide university system's governors.

The investigation by outside attorneys says the protesters condemning the statue on the University of North Carolina's Chapel Hill campus as a racist symbol were better-organized and prepared than police anticipated. The law firm says it didn't find evidence of a conspiracy among police, administrators, and demonstrators to topple the statue last August.

Past coverage on Silent Sam:

Campus Chancellor Carol Folt's last day was Thursday after she unilaterally ordered the removal of the Confederate soldier statue's stone base last month.

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