UC Hastings College of the Law to be renamed in 2023

SAN FRANCISCO – The University of California, Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco will be known under a new name in 2023.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1936, which re-designates the school as “University of California College of the Law, San Francisco.” The bipartisan measure cleared the Assembly and State Senate without opposing votes.

“This bill allows us to legally change the name of the College and reaffirm our commitment to restorative justice initiatives with the California tribes most impacted by the acts of our founder and first dean, Serranus Hastings,” Chancellor David Faigman said in a statement Friday.

The renaming follows a three-year project the school took to examine the life of Hastings, who founded the law school in 1878 and was the college’s first dean.

Researchers determined that in the 1850s, Hastings funded and supported individuals who engaged in what the school described as “mass killings and other atrocities” against the Yuki Tribe in the Round Valley and Eden Valley region of Mendocino County.

Following the researchers’ report, the school’s Board of Directors unanimously voted to remove Hastings’ name from the school in recognition of the harms done by the school’s founder.

Along with the renaming, the school will continue to be involved in restorative justice efforts with the tribe and other indigenous peoples, including pro bono legal services to tribes and opening an Indigenous Law Center and memorial on campus.

Faigman said the school’s official renaming will take place sometime in 2023 but did not announce a specific date. The school would continue to be known as “UC Hastings” in the meantime.