Harvard Law School might remove official seal over links to

slavery
One professor on the committee, joined by a student, said keeping the current shield was a way to
honor the slaves whose sacrifice provided the Royall family with its wealth.
The shield, officially adopted in 1937, depicts three bundles of wheat, an image borrowed from the
family crest of Isaac Royall Jr., under the university's motto "Veritas."
According to The Guardian, the decision to remove the shields comes after Harvard University
announced it would chance the title "house master," used to describe the Ivy League's residential
administrators," and use the term "faculty dean" instead.
The shield's meaning has changed over time, said Bruce Mann, committee chairman and Harvard
Law professor.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
"I endorse the recommendation to retire the shield because its association with slavery does not
represent the values and aspirations of the Harvard Law School and because it has become a source
of division rather than commonality in our community," she wrote to students and alumni.
Minow created the committee after some law school students formed a group called Royall Must Fall
to denounce the shield.

The committee's 10-2 recommendation was backed by Dean Martha Minow, but it wasn't
immediately clear when Harvard Corp., one of the university's governing boards, will make its final
decision.
"Too many people think the shield has become an impediment," he said.
However, not everyone is agreeing with the decision. "Too many people see the association with
slavery."
They said the current shield should be tied "to a historically sound interpretative narrative about it"
and suggested adding the word "Iustitia" -- justice in Latin -- below the word "Veritas."
Royall donated his estate to create the first law professorship at Harvard University. His father,
Isaac Royall Sr., made much of the family wealth on the backs of slaves on Caribbean sugar
plantations and Massachusetts farms.

A committee recommended Harvard

Law School remove its official seal
Friday, following months of scrutiny
surrounding the symbol that has ties to
an 18th-century slave owner.
"We believe that if the Law School is to
have an official symbol, it must more
closely represent the values of the Law
School, which the current shield does
not," the committee made up of
professors, alumni, students and staff
wrote in its recommendation.