State supreme court lets stand decision to ax Hastings name from University of California law school
The California Supreme Court let stand without comment Wednesday a ruling to rebrand the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, erasing the connection to its founder who has been linked to the massacre of the indigenous Yuki people of Northern California in the 19th century.
Law.com has the story.
Serranus Hastings was a wealthy attorney and landowner who became the state’s first chief justice and donated $100,000 to create the state’s first public law school in 1878, provided that it would take his name and keep his descendants on the board of directors in perpetuity.
But concerns about Hastings’ involvement with the California tribe emerged in the 2016 book An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe, 1846–1873, stating that while serving as a judge, Hastings released men who killed members of the tribe on bail, and none of the cases were ever tried.
Some alums and descendants disputed the claims, but in 2022, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation that changed the school’s name to the University of California College of the Law at San Francisco, according to Law.com.
Last year, the California First District Court of Appeal’s ruling rejected claims that the state legislature and the school’s board of directors had no authority to remove Hastings’ name, according to the story. And the unanimous appellate panel also had found that the state was not bound by an 1878 law requiring the school to provide a seat on the board to the Hastings family in perpetuity.
“We intend to seek review by the U.S. Supreme Court and look forward to having these important issues addressed,” Gregory Michael, a partner at Michael Yamamoto, who represented the petitioners in Hastings College Conservation Committee v. State of California, wrote to Law.com.
See also:
Board of UC Hastings law school recommends name change in response to founder’s role in massacres
UC Hastings law school will advocate for name change because of namesake’s role in massacres
Founder’s role in massacres leads to reckoning for Hastings law school
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