UIC Drops John Marshall From Law School Name Due To Racist Views

CHICAGO — The University of Illinois at Chicago announced the institution's John Marshall Law School will be renamed due to the Supreme Court justice's history as a slave owner. The UIC John Marshall Law School, soon to be renamed the UI-Chicago School of Law, is consistently ranked among the best part-time law schools in the country.

University of Illinois trustees and law school faculty voted Thursday in favor of renaming the school, saying Marshall's involvement in the U.S. slave trade rendered him "a highly inappropriate namesake for the law school."

The name change will take effect July 1, following a long review by a university-led task force. The final vote was 6-1.

"The name of the school has changed, but it doesn't erase its proud history or the impact of its faculty, alumni and students," said Darby Dickerson, dean of the law school. "As Chicago's first and only public law school, our mission continues to center on academic excellence, diversity, student success and bettering the lives of the people of Chicago and beyond."

While Marshall holds a significant legacy as the longest-serving U.S. Supreme Court justice, the task force said "newly discovered research" depicts him owning hundreds of slaves, advocating for slavery in his judicial duties and holding racist views.

The John Marshall Law School, formerly an independent law school that was established in 1899, merged with UIC in 2019. As part of the merger, the University of Illinois agreed to keep Marshall's name in the school's title. Thursday's vote of the trustees was needed to change the transfer agreement.

UIC's law school is separate from the University of Illinois College of Law at its larger campus in Urbana-Champaign.