BERKELEY, Calif. - The law school at the University of California, Berkeley has stripped itself of a 19th century namesake who espoused racist views that led to the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. University officials say this is the first time UC Berkeley has removed a facility’s name due to the character or actions of its namesake. Oakland attorney John Henry Boalt was never a student or teacher at the law school, but after he died in 1901, his widow Elizabeth Josselyn Boalt put up money to construct a Boalt Memorial Hall of Law. Students and alumni have long referred to themselves as Boalties and the law school was casually referred to as Boalt Hall. It wasn’t until 2017 that attorney and UC Berkeley law lecturer Charles Reichmann found Boalt’s racist writings and publicized them.

Source: thestar January 30, 2020 18:22 UTC