RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The head of the country's oldest public university is saying goodbye to the North Carolina's campus she's leaving after a tiff over a Confederate monument.
Carol Folt spent Thursday comparing herself to college seniors looking beyond graduation to life's new chapter. She joked during her last campus trustees meeting that she feels like she's graduating early.
Folt planned to leave in May, but the state university governing board forced her out early because she unilaterally ordered the removal of the stone base that formerly featured the statue of a Confederate soldier. The metal soldier was torn down last summer by protesters who said the monument was a racist symbol dedicated with a white supremacist speech in 1913.
News outlets report Folt said Thursday she's "at peace" with her decision.
