Doctoral student arrested after Confederate memorial vandalized

A doctoral student has been arrested after a Confederate memorial on the University of North Carolina campus, known as Silent Sam, was vandalized.

Erected in 1913 by the North Carolina Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and UNC alumni, Silent Sam was placed in memory of “the sons of the University who entered the war of 1861-65,” a plaque on one side says.

The structure has been the source of controversy over the years that's been heated at times. On the first day of classes last fall, fliers posted throughout the campus urged people to attend a rally connoting the statue’s “last semester on campus."

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Down the road from Chapel Hill, a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was removed from Duke Chapel recently after protesters damaged it.

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The Daily Tar Heel, the independent student newspaper serving the UNC community and beyond, reports that a doctoral student was arrested following Monday afternoon's vandalism. Read their story here.

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Jennifer Brett