BC Law's Monan University Professor Daniel Coquillette was quoted in the New York Times and Boston Globe coverage of the Harvard conference “Universities and Slavery: Bound by History,” headlined by author Ta-Nehisi Coates:
The conference drew an audience of over 500 people and more than a thousand online viewers. It was sparked by a controversy over the Harvard Law School seal, which originated in part with the publication of Coquillette's book On the Battlefield of Merit. The book laid bare Harvard’s historic connections to slavery. As a result, the university decided to replace its law school’s official shield. Based on the coat of arms of the family of Isaac Royall, an 18th century slaveholder who established Harvard’s first law professorship, the ubiquitous shield had been the symbol of Harvard Law School for eighty years.
Full coverage of On the Battlefield of Merit from BC Law Magazine