‘Confront racist symbols’: UC Berkeley Law School abandons namesake over controversial past

The University of California, Berkeley, School of Law removed John Boalt’s name from the campus over his support of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act.

The university chiseled the school's namesake’s title off law school buildings after writings from the late 1800s surfaced revealing that Boalt had held racist views of Chinese people.

Boalt, a judge and partner of a prominent Oakland, California, law firm, encouraged the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which was the first immigration bill to target a single group of migrants. He wrote that Chinese people gave him “unconquerable repulsion” and that they were “unassimilable liars, murderers, and misogynists.”

UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ announced the removal of Boalt’s name from the university, writing, “This is the first time a UC Berkeley building has had its name removed because the values of its namesake were so out of sync with those of our institution.”

Christ continued, “There is no question that building names are powerful symbols for those who walk across our campus. I believe that removing the Boalt name from our law building — while still acknowledging our ties to the Boalt family — will help us recognize a troubled part of Berkeley’s history while better supporting the diverse membership of our academic community.”

Professor Paul Fine, a co-chair of the university’s Building Name Review Committee, said, “It’s incredibly important to confront racist symbols like John Boalt’s name on a building because these symbols act to reinforce the history of white supremacy in our institutions.”

Boalt’s name was not tied to the school in an official capacity, and he was never a student or professor at the university. But his wife paid for portions of the school after her husband died, and students referred to themselves as “Boalties.” Boalt spent most of his life in the Oakland area, but he did study in Germany before leaving Europe to join the Union forces during the U.S. Civil War.

Several universities and public buildings have considered scrapping the names of historical figures who hold views that are deemed problematic by today’s standards. The city of Charlottesville, Virginia, even ended a regional holiday honoring Thomas Jefferson’s birthday because he owned slaves and was accused of rape.