‘Royall Must Fall’ protest hits Harvard
Harvard Law School is considering scrapping its historic official seal after sit-ins by student protesters who claim it is racist.
|||Harvard Law School is considering scrapping its historic official seal after sit-ins by student protesters who claim it is racist.
The university has appointed a committee to review the shield design, which dates back to 1936 and is displayed on official banners.
The seal includes three sheaves of wheat - the family crest of 18th Century donor Isaac Royall, who established the college’s first professorship in law but was also a brutal slave-owner.
A group of students calling themselves “Royall Must Fall” said the image should be removed as it was a sign of “systemic racism” at the university.
Harvard has also recently removed the word “master” from some staff titles after protests from students who claimed this reminded them of slave-owners.
It rebranded its “house masters”, who look after halls of residence, as “faculty deans”.
The protests follow a series of similar incidents at British universities in which students have called for bans on speakers, publications and even statues which they deem to be offensive.
A group at Oriel College, Oxford, unsuccessfully campaigned for a statue of colonialist Cecil Rhodes to be torn down over claims it was “racist”.
And last week, Cambridge students called for a bronze cockerel representing Jesus College to be returned to Nigeria, from where it was taken in the 19th Century.
Harvard, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is the latest elite university to become embroiled in the growing trend of students claiming they are entitled to a “safe space” to protect them from uncomfortable views or truths.
The university denies racism and has not accepted that the use of “master” was a link to slavery.
Academics say the term derives from the Latin “magister” - a form of address for scholars or teachers.
It is similar to titles such as “schoolmaster” or “headmaster”.
The new rules will mean a change in job title for 24 members of staff - but will not affect other uses of “master” such as master’s degree.
A decision on whether to get rid of the Royall family crest is expected to be made soon.
The donor, whose money helped to endow the university, has been accused of burning slaves alive.
Rena Karefa-Johnson, a third-year law student and one of the campaigners, said the drive to change the seal was inspired by the Cecil Rhodes protest.
She told MTV News: “No one thinks of the seal as a symbol of anti-blackness, but we have to constantly be thinking about how racism seeps into the way we do things.” Harvard did not comment further.
Speakers British students have tried to ban from campus include feminist Germaine Greer and historian David Starkey.
Daily Mail