The board of a law school in San Francisco founded by a racist San Franciscan rancher who encouraged murderous acts of violence against Native Americans in the 19th century has recommended changing the institution’s name to the College of the Law San Francisco.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the UC Hastings College of the Law’s board of trustees decided to propose it to state legislators on Wednesday. State law forbids changing the college’s name without legislative action since it is enshrined in it.
Hastings boasts prominent influencers like former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown and U.S. vice president Kamala Harris among its alumni.
Serranus Clinton Hastings, a rich racist San Franciscan rancher and later chief judge of the California Supreme Court, reportedly helped plan and fund attempts by white settlers in Mendocino County to assassinate and enslave members of the Yuki Indian tribe. He also helped organize the organization in 1878.
The Chronicle said that descendants of Yuki and Round Valley tribal members who hoped for an indigenous name have voiced significant opposition to the plan.
The school started looking at the founder’s legacy in 2017, and the board decided to alter the institution’s name in November. Additionally, it is working on “restorative justice” projects, such as a formal apology.
2020 saw the removal of a 19th-century namesake from the University of California, Berkeley law school, whose racist beliefs inspired the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act.
