(Chapel Hill, N.C.) (AP) – The board that oversees North Carolina’s public universities says it was taken by surprise when a university leader ordered the removal of a pedestal that once held a Confederate statue.

University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Chancellor Carol Folt said Monday that she had authorized that the base that once held the statue known as “Silent Sam” be removed from a main campus quad and put into storage. She didn’t give a timetable.

She also announced to the campus Monday that she will step down at the end of the school year.

Folt’s surprise order drew an angry response from the leader of the board overseeing the state’s public universities, but he stopped short of saying he would seek to stop the removal.

Board of Governors Chairman Harry Smith said Folt’s announcement hadn’t altered the statewide panel’s timeline for deciding what to do with the statue by March.