University leaders brainstorm how to fix sinking Unsung Founders Memorial

The Unsung Founders Memorial located in McCorkle Place has been slowly sinking into the ground since it was installed in 2005.

Kate Luck, UNC’s Media Relations manager, said in an email that the sinking is due to the weight of the monument and the shifting of the surrounding ground, soil and tree roots.

Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz announced his intention to repair and protect the Unsung Founders Memorial at a Faculty Council meeting Feb. 14.

Created by artist Do-Ho Suh, the memorial is a black granite table supported by 300 bronze figurines and is surrounded by five black stone seats. It was given to the University by the class of 2002 to honor the people of color who helped construct some of the buildings on campus. 

Ben Singer, who was UNC’s senior class president in 2002, helped oversee the selection and coordination of the monument as the senior class gift.

The class of 2002 raised about $54,000 to cover part of the cost of creating the monument, with additional funds coming from the provost’s office. In total, the monument cost $94,000.

“Inclusive of the process of incorporating the Unsung Founders monument as property of UNC, we had an implicit and explicit understanding that this would be treated to the same standard of preservation as all property in the (purview) of ownership of UNC,” Singer said in an email. “We are saddened that our class' gift to the University is in its current state."

The University has been aware of the sinking for a while said Jim Leloudis, co-chairperson of the Commission on History, Race and a Way Forward.  

Leloudis previously served on former Chancellor Carol Folt’s History Task Force where plans to fix the Unsung Founders Memorial were first discussed. 

Leloudis said the Task Force started developing a plan to raise the monument and brainstormed preliminary design concepts to better contextualize the space, but its work was interrupted and subsequently put on hold by the toppling of the confederate monument Silent Sam.

Guskiewicz met with UNC Facilities Services staff on Feb. 17 to determine the best plan to safely raise and stabilize the monument, said Luck in an email. Luck also said Guskiewicz met with the co-chairpersons of the Commission on History, Race and a Way Forward to review original recommendations for the space made by the History Task Force. 

Leloudis said the sinking of the Unsung Founders Memorial is a priority issue that the Commission will work to address in the upcoming months. 

“There’s also an opportunity there to think about ways that the siting might be enhanced and improved with the goal of creating a more contemplative space around the monument — a setting that’s more in line with the purpose of the monument,” Leloudis said.

While the extent of the work to be completed on the Unsung Founders Memorial has yet to be determined, Leloudis said it may involve changing the grating, repositioning the monument slightly and adding new landscaping and hardscaping. 

The Commission will discuss the Unsung Founders Memorial at its upcoming meeting in March.

“That’s a conversation the Commission needs to have and then, of course, whatever is going to be done with the memorial is a conversation that the whole community should be a part of as well,” Leloudis said.

Leloudis said any site changes will be thoughtful and intentional, and will take time. Campus and community members will have opportunities to be a part of the final determination of what happens to the site, he said. 

Luck said in an email that Guskiewicz has asked the Commission to continue examining ways to improve the site of the Unsung Founders Memorial, but while recommendations are developed, he has made stabilizing the memorial an “immediate priority.” 

UNC Facilities Services will examine the sinking further and make recommendations on how to resolve the issue, with the work expected to be completed over the late spring and summer, said Luck in an email. 

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