The founder of this law school helped murder Native Californians. Should tribes help rename it?
The founder of a California law school helped perpetrate a genocide against Native Americans. Now legislators are making efforts to involve tribal leaders in selecting a new name for the college.
Assembly members James Ramos, D-Highland, and Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, are pushing Assembly Bill 1936, which would guarantee Northern California tribal leaders a seat at the table as the Legislature selects a new name for UC Hastings College of Law. Ramos presented the bill in an Assembly Higher Education Committee hearing Tuesday.
The San Francisco school’s founder, Serranus Clinton Hastings, “hired private militias that massacred the Yuki and Round Valley people so he could steal their lands,” according to a Ramos news release.
“He then used his fortune, derived in part from the massacre of those tribes, to become California’s first Supreme Court chief justice and attorney general, and to help establish the law college,” the release said.
UC Hastings leaders and alumni have been grappling with the school founder’s legacy since 2017, when an adjunct professor wrote an opinion piece for the San Francisco Chronicle calling for the name change.
School leaders have acknowledged Hastings’ role in state-sponsored Native American genocide, although they initially pushed for other forms of restorative justice, which they outlined in a Sacramento Bee editorial from July 2021.
In their op-ed, David Faigman, Hastings chancellor and dean, and James Russ, president of the Round Valley Tribal Council, wrote about UC Hastings dedicating “a permanent and public memorial to the Yuki people on its campus.” They also highlighted the school’s Indigenous Law Center, as well as potential efforts to provide pro bono legal work and economic development assistance to the Round Valley Indian Tribes.
“Early on, it became clear that the Hastings name was just one of many issues to resolve,” Faigman and Russ wrote. “Yet, repeatedly in our conversations, a principal grievance of (Round Valley Indian Tribes) representatives was their erasure from California and American history. Erasing the Hastings name would not remedy that continuing insult.”
However, the law college’s board in November 2021 directed UC Hastings leadership to push for a name change.
“With this vote, we authorize UC Hastings leadership to work in good faith with legislators and other stakeholders to change our school’s name,” said Carl Robertson, chair of the board of directors, in a news release. “We know that some members of our community are attached to the school’s name because of the college’s wonderful 143-year history, unrelated to Serranus Hastings. But this change is a critical step in addressing our founder’s role in Native Californian genocide.”
At a Tuesday news conference, Faigman said AB 1936 is “the foundation upon which further work can be built.”
“We expect that the final bill will remove the name Hastings from the law school and settle upon a range of restorative justice opportunities that are appropriate for law school to undertake,” he said.
The New York Times in March reported the UC Hastings board favors changing the school’s name to “University of California, College of the Law, San Francisco.”
However, Mona Oandasan, vice chair of the Yuki Committee to the Round Valley Tribal Council, suggested during her Higher Education Committee testimony that her “ancestors would be honored” if Hastings were replaced with a Yuki name.
“I ask that the state Legislature and the college allow the Yuki to choose a name from our language,” Oandasan said. “In order that the law school — including all who attend and speak of this institution — will be participating in the restorative justice process whenever the law school is mentioned, by speaking and helping revitalize the Yuki language.”
This story was originally published April 27, 2022 at 5:00 AM.