Professors at the University of North Carolina are threatening to destroy a Confederate monument if it is not taken down before Thursday, according to a Sunday report.

Seventeen senior UNC Chapel Hill faculty members demand the university take down a “Silent Sam” statue before Thursday, or else they will tear it down themselves, reported The Daily Tar Heel.

“We do not fear arrest, indeed we welcome the opportunity to demonstrate the commitment that the Carolina faculty has to the well-being of its students and the principles that make this university great,” the professors wrote in a letter to the school’s chancellor.

The faculty members told The Daily Tar Heel they want to stay anonymous, but reportedly hail from UNC’s arts and sciences, law, medicine, and public health schools.

“We believe the Confederate monument (Silent Sam) must be immediately moved to an appropriate setting that contextualizes and teaches the history of white supremacy, rather than glorifies it,” wrote the professors.

A few hundred people protested the statue in August following the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally. UNC received Silent Sam in 1913 and the statue is “silent” because there is no ammunition in its gun cartridge box.

“Our chancellor and other university administrators understand that it would be reckless and irresponsible to act without the proper legal authority,” UNC senior Will Rierson told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “This has enraged many on the far left, but I am happy that the rule of law is being respected as we decide what to do with this important historical monument.”

The DCNF reached out to UNC Chapel Hill for comment, but received none in time for press.

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