Harvard Law School Takes A Scythe To Its Wheat Crest

A big victory for the forces of change at Harvard Law School.

Harvard Law School is a very old place that uses very old clip-art for its “crest” or “seal” or “shield” or “sigil” or whatever old-timey word you use to describe that kind of branding.

Harvard Law Crest

Like many things that are very old in this country, the crest is born of horrible racism and bondage. Ever since the crest’s history came to light, a group of students has been working hard to get the image changed. Of course, there were also students defending the shield because, well, that’s how that always goes.

The controversy has become the most serious conversation about race and wheat since a black man creamed it. This morning, it looks like the forces of change got their way. HLS Dean Martha Minow wrote the following letter to alumni:

Dear Harvard Law School Alumni,

Last November, I established a committee to examine important questions about the history of the Harvard Law School shield and whether HLS should retire its use. The committee – comprised of faculty, students, alumni and staff – has completed its work after a thorough process that involved wide-ranging and well-considered contributions from more than a thousand members of our community. The committee has recommended that the shield be retired, and I have transmitted that recommendation – with my endorsement – to the Harvard Corporation, which has the responsibility of making the ultimate decision.

I write to share with you my transmittal letter to the Corporation, the committee’s report and recommendation, and the thoughtful separate opinion with a different view from two members of the committee.

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. Whatever the Corporation decides about the shield, at HLS we will be committed to addressing our history, and ongoing questions of injustice within our community and beyond.

I give my sincere thanks to the committee, Professors Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Annette Gordon-Reed, Janet Halley, and Samuel Moyn, alumni James E. Bowers and Robert J. Katz, students Rena Karefa-Johnson, Annie Rittgers, and Mawuse H. Vormawor, staff members Darrick Northington and Yih-Hsien Shen, and especially the chair, Professor Bruce Mann, for modeling the kind of reasoned discourse, rigorous analysis, respectful disagreement, and civil debate to which HLS and our nation’s legal system itself are dedicated.

Martha Minow
Morgan and Helen Chu Dean and Professor
Harvard Law School

Sure, the shadowy “Corporation” could always overrrule Dean Minow. But the only way to turn this from a campus controversy to national news would be for a secretive collection of impossibly rich white people to overrule the students and the dean of a law school in support of a racist insignia. I expect the Corporation will go along with Minow’s recommendation.

My position on this has always been “sure, change the crest, but it’s not a big deal.” Well, actual students made it a big deal. And they won. Good for you, Harvard Law Millennials.

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Now get out there and vote for Hillary Clinton because she’s going to be the nominee and because gravity always wins, and she’s the only one who can stop Donald Drumpf.

Let’s Keep The Racist Harvard Law Crest And Fix The Harvard Law Racism [ATL Redline]
Does the Shield Conversation Really Have Two Sides? [Harvard Law Record]

Earlier: Open Letter To Black Law Students: It Doesn’t Get Better

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