Harvard Law Rethinks Its Seal

Harvard Law should revoke its seal, a committee tasked with re-considering the school’s official emblem has recommended. The 12-person committee agreed unanimously that Harvard Law should publicly acknowledge that the seal bears the crest of the former slave-owning Royall family, who helped established Harvard’s first law professorship in the late 18^th century. Two committee members issued a dissent in the case, saying the seal should be preserved as an “honest” reminder of the school’s association with “those enslaved at the Royall Plantation.” A student group, Royall Must Fall, began calling for the seal’s removal in October.