Silent Sam Settlement Voided

A judge on Wednesday voided a settlement between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Sons of Confederate Veterans, according to The News & Observer.

The college had agreed to pay $2.5 million and hand over the Silent Sam Confederate monument to the organization, but Orange County Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour at a hearing said the Sons of Confederate Veterans didn't have legal standing to bring the lawsuit.

The statue in the middle of the dispute once stood at the heart of the college's campus, until it was illegally torn down by protesters in August 2018. The Sons of Confederate Veterans sued the college for failing to restore the statue. The University of North Carolina Board of Governors approved a settlement this past December with the organization, saying it would hand over ownership of the statue and pay the $2.5 million.

The deal was condemned by faculty and students, who worried the group would spend the money to promote violence and white supremacy, although the Confederate organization has denied any ties to white supremacist groups. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation pulled $1.5 million in grant funds from the college after the decision was made.

Five students and a faculty member attempted to intervene to stop the lawsuit. While Baddour denied their motion to intervene, he scheduled a hearing to discuss the Sons of Confederate Veterans' rights in the original settlement.