UC Berkeley has removed references John Henry Boalt from its law school after a research paper revealed his connection to racist policies against Chinese -Americans. (Photo by Joseph Morris/Flickr)

The University of California at Berkeley has removed from its law school the name of a man whose 19th century writing helped stoke anti-Chinese racism in the country.

Boalt Hall, named after John Henry Boalt, has been the name of the main classroom wing at the UC Berkeley School of Law and has often been used to refer to the law school itself, with many of its graduates having been called “Boalties” over the years.

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Dan McMenamin is the managing editor at Bay City News, directing daily news coverage of the 12-county greater Bay Area. He has worked for BCN since 2008 and has been managing editor since 2014 after previously serving as BCN’s San Francisco bureau reporter. A UC Davis graduate, he came to BCN after working for a newspaper and nonprofit in the Davis area. He handles staffing, including coaching of our interns, day-to-day coverage decisions and management of the newswire.