Dear Professor Gast,

The horrible murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, has enraged members of the student and researcher communities at Imperial. This tragedy has opened many eyes to the racial injustices occurring here in the UK. Thank you for taking important steps such as driving forward the new outreach programme and establishing a new scholarship to support BAME students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Alongside these crucial measures, a controversial decision has been made by unknown members of the college's governing body to scrap Imperial's motto ("Scientia imperii decus et tutamen"). The motto translates from Latin as 'Scientific knowledge, the crowning glory and the safeguard of the empire'.

The word "empire" in the motto refers to the British empire, at best a controversial period of British history. Boer concentration camps in South Africa and Indian famines are just a few of many crimes against humanity committed by the authorities of the empire.

At first the decision to scrap the Latin motto in order to distance the college from the negative connotations of the word "empire" may seem wise and a good PR move for the college.

However the history can teach us a lot about our present times. Remembering uncomfortable truths about the British empire through artifacts such as the motto, is important in the current struggle against systemic racism. In the words of George Santayana: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Destroying the motto, erases an important part of the college's history linked with the granting of the Royal Charter to the college by King Edward VII. Forgetting the origins of the college will undoubtedly lead the college to loosing a part of its historical identity.

Lastly the Latin motto only has negative connotations, when it is interpreted negatively as "science serving the perpetuation of internal exploitation of colonies by the authorities of the British empire".

However in reality any sentence has a multitude of interpretations, the same motto can be interpreted as "science serving to protect individuals within the empire from external threats".When the Latin motto was invented in the early 20th century, Britain stood before two world wars. The second world war was fought against a racist and genocidal regime. Scientific breakthroughs such as the discovery of penicillin helped Britain to win the war and stop fascism.

To conclude, changing the motto of the college is a superficial way to fight racism. However by doing so harm will be done to the historical identity of the college. I would like to ask you to reconsider your decision, and keep the original college motto.