Sam might be silent, but the people of North Carolina surefire shouldn’t be.

We applaud DTH Media Corp., publisher of the student newspaper at our flagship state university, for its willingness to file a lawsuit against the University of North Carolina’s Board of Governors. The litigation says the state’s open meetings laws were violated when the board secretly negotiated and approved a deal to dispose of the Confederate monument known as Silent Sam.

Our position with regard to transparency among those who lead us extends to all levels, and is well-documented. The law allows movement by governing officials when circumstances merit secrecy. The public’s interest is best served when sunlight shines on the overall process, and The Daily Tar Heel is right to bring it forward here.

If the claims in the lawsuit are true, and we believe there’s reason to think they are, then the Board of Governors has acted unlawfully. That Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour in December said he was reconsidering his approval of a deal between the Board of Governors and the Sons of Confederate Veterans speaks volumes.

The bench doesn’t often need a mulligan.

Silent Sam stood on the UNC campus for 105 years, its myths as intriguing as its reason for being erected in the first place. The United Daughters of the Confederacy sought it, wanting to honor students who volunteered to fight for the Confederacy in the Civil War.

Since the 1960s, the heyday of protests in modern America, it has drawn the scorn of thousands for symbolizing a racist message. It was toppled Aug. 20, 2018, and all that was left was removed under the cover of darkness on Jan. 14, 2019, at the request of then-Chancellor Carol Folt.

In November came the deal, the university agreeing to put $2.5 million into a trust to help defray cost for the Sons of Confederate Veterans to build a center to preserve Silent Sam. The group was also paid $75,000 to stay off university lawns — specifically, to not display Confederate flags or similar banners on any UNC system campus for five years.

The deal was done behind closed doors, the board met by conference call the day before Thanksgiving without notice, then adjourned the meeting in open session but without acknowledgment of the pact.

Forty-five minutes after adjournment, the Sons of Confederate Veterans filed a lawsuit against UNC over Silent Sam, and Baddour approved a consent agreement for the two sides within five minutes. The lawsuit says it was negotiated and drafted well in advance, and unless and until evidence can prove otherwise, we agree.

We’re saddened by more troubling news from Chapel Hill. This is, has been, and will always be a great university, its warts and worries notwithstanding.

It is, as the late Charles Kuralt said, the university of the people. They should not be in the dark.