Massachusetts

unhappycamper

(60,364 posts) Sat Mar 19, 2016, 07:41 AM Mar 2016

Harvard Coop to sell off remaining merchandise with law school shield

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/03/18/harvard-coop-sell-off-remaining-merchandise-with-law-school-shield/AM1rR3Cz3owA3hyH8fYGgI/story.html

Harvard Coop to sell off remaining merchandise with law school shield
By Steve Annear Globe Staff March 18, 2016

It’s been stripped from Harvard Law School’s Facebook and Twitter accounts, and it is being wiped clean from the university’s website.

Now, the controversial shield with ties to a slave-holding family that has represented the law school for nearly 80 years will slowly disappear from the shelves and online store of The Harvard Coop.

The Coop, located in Harvard Square, is the main retailer of Harvard textbooks and swag, including sweatshirts, mugs, hats, T-shirts, decals, and umbrellas.

Jerry Murphy, president of the Coop, which has served the Harvard community since 1882, said the store will sell off its remaining law school inventory that bears the symbol following the university’s decision this week to let the school abandon the use of the shield.

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Harvard Coop to sell off remaining merchandise with law school shield (Original Post) unhappycamper Mar 2016 OP

Wow! EdwardBernays Mar 2016 #1

The article didn't make it entirely clear to me why the shield's being discontinued. Mister Ed Mar 2016 #2

Here's the reason why Harvard's dropping that shield: unhappycamper Mar 2016 #3

Thanks. That explains it. Mister Ed Mar 2016 #4

EdwardBernays

(3,343 posts)

1. Wow!

Reply to unhappycamper (Original post)

Sat Mar 19, 2016, 07:56 AM

Mar 2016

That's mad... I didn't know it was being phased out.

Mister Ed

(5,924 posts)

2. The article didn't make it entirely clear to me why the shield's being discontinued.

Reply to unhappycamper (Original post)

Sat Mar 19, 2016, 09:17 AM

Mar 2016

Is it because the sheafs of gathered grain are thought to represent the labor of enslaved people? I think that's what the article was hinting at, but I'm not sure.

unhappycamper

(60,364 posts)

3. Here's the reason why Harvard's dropping that shield:

Reply to Mister Ed (Reply #2)

Sat Mar 19, 2016, 09:52 AM

Mar 2016

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/03/harvard_university_agrees_to_r.html#incart_river_home

Harvard University agrees to retire law school shield tied to slavery
By The Associated Press
on March 14, 2016 at 9:15 PM, updated March 14, 2016 at 9:16 PM

CAMBRIDGE — Harvard University is retiring the official shield of its law school following complaints over its ties to an 18th-century slaveholder.

The university's governing body announced the decision Monday, supporting a campus committee's previous recommendation to remove the shield.

The shield was approved in 1937 and depicts three bundles of wheat. It's modeled after the family crest of slaveholder Isaac Royall Jr., who donated his estate to create the first law professorship at Harvard. Royall inherited his estate and many slaves from his father, a slaveholder who was known for his cruelty.

Students formed a group last fall calling for removal of the shield.

Mister Ed

(5,924 posts)

4. Thanks. That explains it.

Reply to unhappycamper (Reply #3)

Sat Mar 19, 2016, 12:07 PM

Mar 2016

If this was originally the family crest of the Royalls, then the sheafs of gathered wheat almost certainly represent slave labor.

Without the knowledge that it was an adaptation of the Royall family crest, I would have guessed that the sheafs probably represented The Gathering of Knowledge, and the Bounty That Results From That Noble Harvest or some such folderol.

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