The University of North Carolina has ended its control over a controversial Civil War statue by giving the monument and $2.5 million (?1.9 million) in maintenance fees to a group that honours the 19th century fight to uphold slavery.

The statue, depicting a Confederate soldier known as Silent Sam, was?pulled down?by student protesters in August 2018 after it stood for more than a century at a main entrance to North Carolina¡¯s flagship campus in Chapel Hill.

A legal settlement,??by a county judge, gives the North Carolina Division of Sons of Confederate Veterans control of the statue and the $2.5 million to house and maintain it.

The resolution ¡°does what is best for the university, and the university community,¡± James Holmes, an insurance executive who serves on the North Carolina board of governors, said in a??from the state university system announcing the agreement.

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Some on campus disagreed, calling the payment another insult after years of refusals by campus and system administrators to remove Silent Sam and better address the university¡¯s role in advancing white supremacist attitudes.

In a sign of the political risks associated with challenging such memorials, the flagship¡¯s previous chancellor, Carol Folt,?chose to resign?this past January while simultaneously ordering the removal of the pedestal that remained after the student-led toppling of the Silent Sam statue that stood on top of it.

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William Sturkey, an assistant professor of history at North Carolina who specialises in race and the American South, told the??that he regarded the settlement as equivalent to ¡°subsidising the Confederacy¡±.

¡°I don¡¯t even have words for how insane this is,¡± Dr Sturkey told the paper,?The Daily Tar Heel.

A student activist, James Sadler, who is pursuing a doctoral degree in history, also expressed disgust. ¡°UNC has no desire to reckon with their history or contributions to white supremacy,¡± Mr Sadler?. ¡°They¡¯ll spend millions to brush it aside.¡±

The agreement requires that the $2.5 million come from sources not provided by the government. The agreement also requires that Sons of Confederate Veterans display Silent Sam in a location outside the 14 counties that contain a UNC-system campus.

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The chairman of the North Carolina board of governors, Randy Ramsey, said in the statement announcing the agreement that it ¡°allows the university to move forward and focus on its core mission of educating students¡±.

paul.basken@timeshighereducation.com