Harvard Law School is officially replacing the Royall seal

‘It will take some time but the work has begun’

Momma, we made it. And where are we, you ask? We are at the crossroads of progress and appreciation, the intersection of understanding our nation’s history but choosing what aspects of it to celebrate.

Today, the Harvard Corporation agreed to change the official seal of the law school from its current display of three sheaves of wheat under the beloved motto, “Veritas.” The seal is an adapted family crest from a slaveholding family, the Royall family, who endowed Harvard’s first professorship of Law.

Harvard’s student body has been generating a lot of support for moving towards a new seal, particularly after the racially-motivated events in the law school last November and the “Solidarity” partnership between Harvard and Yale students during Harvard/Yale weekend.

Replacing the Royall crest with a new seal does not signify a push for repressing the history of our nation or our institution. It is not an act of repression, rather it is an act of selection. We do not condone the broad and public use of the Royall family seal because of its affiliations with a history that we acknowledge, but do not wish to celebrate.

Drew Faust explains in her letter to the Harvard Law School: “Modern institutions must acknowledge their past associations with slavery, not to assign guilt, but to understand the pervasiveness of the legacy of slavery and its continuing impact on the world in which we live.”

And tonight, Harvard students raise a glass (full of non-alcoholic sparkling cider) to understanding, to recognition, and to decisive steps forward.

Here’s the full text of Dean Martha Minow’s email to the law community:

Earlier today, President Faust and Senior Fellow William Lee informed me that the Harvard Corporation will retire the image and trademark of the shield for Harvard Law School adopted in 1936.

I am profoundly grateful to Professor Mann and all members of the committee for the exceptionally thoughtful, inclusive, and response process they led. I also wish to acknowledge and thank the students who were the first to advocate retiring the shield because of its ties to slavery. I appreciate deeply the contributions from so many members of our community – in total more than a thousand staff, students, faculty and alumni – who shared their differing views while united in their devotion to Harvard Law School.

Removing the shield from the many places it has been used by the School will take some time but the work has begun. The templates of our many webpages will be reconfigured to omit the shield by mid-April, and in the next few days, Dean McCrossan will send the community further information and guidance to help all departments make necessary changes.

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