"When Serranus Clinton Hastings put down some cash to have a law school named after himself for the duration of forever, it seemed like a pretty good investment. And it was! For about 145 years. At that point UC Law School San Francisco decided to ditch its previous name to shake off being associated with indigenous genocide. Surviving Hastings were so tilted by the name change that they took the school to court over it."
"California's Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to review a state law renaming the San Francisco law school known for more than a century as the University of California Hastings College of the Law. The court without comment let stand a First District Court of Appeal ruling last year that rejected claims by alumni and descendants of namesake Serranus Hastings that the Legislature and the school's board of directors had no authority to remove Hastings' name."
An original donor, Serranus Clinton Hastings, funded a law school bearing his name for generations. The name persisted for about 145 years until the University of California law school in San Francisco removed Hastings' name to distance the institution from Hastings' ties to indigenous genocide. Hastings descendants and alumni sued, claiming legislative and board actions lacked authority and pointing to an 1878 law granting a perpetual board seat to the Hastings family. A First District Court of Appeal rejected those claims and found the state not bound by the 1878 law. The California Supreme Court declined to review, leaving the appellate decision intact.
Read at Above the Law
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