A committee recommended Harvard Law School remove its official seal Friday, following months of scrutiny surrounding the symbol that has ties to an 18th-century slave owner.
周五,經(jīng)過數(shù)月的選票復查后,一個委員會建議哈佛法學院更改官方院徽,該院徽標志和18世紀奴隸主相關。
The committee’s 10-2 recommendation was backed by Dean Martha Minow, but it wasn’t immediately clear when Harvard Corp., one of the university’s governing boards, will make its final decision.
委員會10比2的建議是由院長Martha Minow支持的,但是在學校委員會之一—哈佛大學集團做出最后決定之前,一切都不能即刻明朗化。
“We believe that if the Law School is to have an official symbol, it must more closely represent the values of the Law School, which the current shield does not," the committee made up of professors, alumni, students and staff wrote in its recommendation.
委員會由教授、校友、學生和工作人員組成,他們在推薦書中寫道:“我們相信,如果法學院將擁有一個官方標志,那它應該更緊密地代表法學院的價值,而現(xiàn)在的盾牌沒有做到這一點。”
The shield’s meaning has changed over time, said Bruce Mann, committee chairman and Harvard Law professor.
委員會主席兼哈佛法律教授Bruce Mann說,盾牌的意義隨著時間在改變。
"Too many people think the shield has become an impediment," he said. "Too many people see the association with slavery."
他說:“很多人覺得盾牌已經(jīng)成為一種障礙了。很多人看到了盾牌和奴隸意義的關聯(lián)。”
The shield, officially adopted in 1937, depicts three bundles of wheat, an image borrowed from the family crest of Isaac Royall Jr., under the university’s motto "Veritas."
這枚盾牌標志于1937年首次采用,上面描畫了三束小麥,圖像取自艾薩克-羅亞爾家族紋章,以哈佛校訓“真理”命名。
Royall donated his estate to create the first law professorship at Harvard University. His father, Isaac Royall Sr., made much of the family wealth on the backs of slaves on Caribbean sugar plantations and Massachusetts farms.
羅亞爾傾其遺產(chǎn)培養(yǎng)了哈佛大學第一個法律教授。他的父親,艾薩克-羅亞爾先生依靠加勒比甘蔗種植園和馬塞諸州農(nóng)場的黑人獲得了大部分家族財富。
Minow created the committee after some law school students formed a group called Royall Must Fall to denounce the shield.
繼一些法學院學生組成團隊呼吁羅亞爾必須倒臺,并且譴責盾牌后,Minow成立了委員會。
"I endorse the recommendation to retire the shield because its association with slavery does not represent the values and aspirations of the Harvard Law School and because it has become a source of division rather than commonality in our community," she wrote to students and alumni.
她為學生和校友寫道:“我批準更換盾牌的建議,因為它和奴隸有關,無法代表哈佛法學院的價值觀和抱負,因為它已經(jīng)成為一種分裂的源頭,而不是我們社會的共性。”
However, not everyone is agreeing with the decision. One professor on the committee, joined by a student, said keeping the current shield was a way to honor the slaves whose sacrifice provided the Royall family with its wealth.
然而,并不是每個人都同意這一決定。委員會中的一名教授和一名學生說,保留目前的盾牌院徽是一種紀念為羅亞爾家族財富做出犧牲的奴隸的方式。