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Still No Protestors, But News About Kenan Stadium

The university finally reacts, sort of

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NCAA Football: Pittsburgh at North Carolina
Sep 22, 2018; Chapel Hill, NC, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels quarterback Nathan Elliot (11) scrambles during the second half against the Pitt Panthers at Kenan Memorial Stadium. The Tar Heels won 38-35. 
Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports

As we pointed out 37 days ago now, we were astonished to learn that UNC’s Kenan Stadium is named after not just a white supremacist but a man so dedicated to it that he committed mass murder.

Well the university has finally reacted, if poorly.

It has talked to the Kenan family and will change the plaques at the stadium honoring William R. Kenan, Sr. and will instead honor William R. Kenan, Jr.

So in other words, one letter will change and rather than being named for a White Supremacist mass murderer, it’ll be named for the son of a White Supremacist mass murderer who gave the money for the stadium and wanted it named for his father the White Supremacist mass murderer.

That’s progress!

It’s kind of like changing the name of Silent Sam to Silent Bob and calling it a day. Is it enough?

The University certainly has to consider the Kenan family since they’ve given so much money to UNC, but when you get down to it, nothing has changed except swapping a J for an S.

Note to the N&O. We’re glad that NBC’s Craig Calcaterra picked this up on September 19th. DBR started talking about it in August and, respectfully, we’d like to think we had something to do with getting the public discussion rolling.

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