Harvard Law committee proposes changing seal
The decision comes after months of protests
Friday morning, a committee tasked by the Law School with deciding whether it should change its seal finally came to a decision.
Ten of the 12 members concluded that the school should change the seal – which can trace back ties to the slave-owning Royall family – to a different, less provocative one.
The other two saw the seal as an “honest” reminder of “those enslaved at the Royall plantation.”
In December, demonstrators reimagined the seal’s three bushels of wheat being carried on the backs of slaves.
The decision comes after months of protests on the seal and race relations in general at Harvard. Most recently, the title of “house master” was changed to “faculty dean,” after demonstrations concerning the association of “master” with slavery.
While this step marks progress for the protesters, some have questioned if this sets a precedent to remove any sign of slavery from the school’s past, which erases most of the school’s history, even if it is outdated and embarrassing.