Silent Sam Was Toppled. Yet He Still Looms Over Campus.

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●  Confederate Statue Should Return to UNC Campus, Chancellor Says, but at a Different Location - The Chronicle of Higher Education

●  Finding New Home for Silent Sam

The gash in the earth here has turned into sacred ground.

It’s the spot where Silent Sam, the University of North Carolina’s Confederate monument, came crashing down last week in a stunning protest, leaving a 4-inch-deep, 2-foot-wide crater in the mound of dirt.

The hole in the ground has become a crowd favorite: Small children pose for photos standing in it. Friends recount the story of how it got here. Some students tiptoe around it, a sign of reverence.