Students want to cancel this Supreme Court Chief Justice

Cleveland State University’s (CSU) Board of Trustees is set to meet Tuesday to discuss a university-wide policy for “space, unity, and entity naming” as students are campaigning to remove John Marshall from the law school. 

Marshall College of Law was named after John Marshall, who served as the fourth chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Marshall held that position in 1803 when the Supreme Court established the “principle known as judicial review” in Marbury v. Madison. 

Marshall, however, was also a slave owner, which is why the campus group Students Against Marshall (S.A.M.) wants the name removed from the college of law.

The policy, if approved, will set guidelines for “evaluating names, now and in the future,” Cleveland 19 reports.

A S.A.M. spokesperson told Campus Reform that the board declined to vote before the semester was over, referencing the May 17 meeting date. 

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“We are disappointed but not surprised about the board declining to vote prior to commencement,” the spokesperson said. 

The spokesperson added, “S.A.M. will continue to organize and advocate to CSU for the name on the law building to no longer be named after a brutal enslaver.”

Campus Reform reached out to Cleveland State University and the Board of Trustees for comment; this article will be updated accordingly. 

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