Staff Writer
#KickOutTheKKK
is a movement on the UNC Chapel Hill campus to rename Saunders Hall.
Participating students claim the hall’s moniker glorifies William L. Saunders,
alumni of UNC and chief organizer of the Klu Klux Klan in North Carolina during
the 1860s.
Students
have taken offense to the University’s historic hall and have created a
Facebook page to make their grievances clear. According to the page,
along with renaming the hall, the group is asking for a plaque on “Silent Sam” explaining
the racial history and for curriculum to be placed in first year orientation
that would contextualize the racial history at UNC.
The
Real Silent Sam Coalition is the organization behind the campaign to rename the
building. It is a student and alumni group led aimed “to create honest
and public dialogue and provoke critical thought surrounding the monuments and
buildings in Chapel Hill.”
The
Real Silent Sam Coalition has a meeting scheduled with the board of trustees
later in May .
The
movement which began a few years ago, received a recent boost from an online
petition recently circulating. Currently from social media almost 1,000
people have indicated their intentions to participate in a rally at 12:10 p.m.
today on UNC Chapel Hill’s campus.
