The College of Law at St. Thomas University will be renamed the Benjamin L. Crump College of Law, making the law school the U.S.’s first to be named after a practicing Black attorney.
The name was formally announced earlier this week.
"The naming of the Benjamin L. Crump College of Law at St. Thomas University is the latest step in an effort to encourage bridge-building among the legal profession, law enforcement, and our communities," said David A. Armstrong, president of STU. "Ben and I couldn't be more different politically, but we share a passion for justice, and the hope that by working together, we can continue to drive meaningful change. Our faith in God, and our belief in the tenets laid out by our founding fathers in the US Constitution, enable us to go beyond race and politics, and focus on the work necessary to truly make the United States the home of the free, and the brave."
Crump partnered with STU and its law school partly due to STU being in a global city with plenty of ethnic and racial diversity.
"It is a privilege to be a part of the St. Thomas University legacy through the Benjamin L. Crump College of Law,” Crump said. “We have come such a long way in the journey to equality, but we are not there yet. The future changemakers and civil justice leaders that will matriculate from St. Thomas will soon be passed the torch from today's civil rights icons and I have every confidence that they will meet the moment."
STU’s law school is home to pro bono immigration and tax Clinics and the John J. Brunetti Human Trafficking Institute.
The only other U.S. law school named for a Black person is named after Crump's personal hero, the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.