Shirley Jefferson: Pillar of the VLS Communityby Sue Publicover
 In the center of the Vermont Law School campus, a small group of students relaxes between classes on brightly painted Adirondack chairs set under a tree. When a tall, impeccably dressed woman strides over, the energy in the group kicks up a few notches.“Dean J!” they chime excitedly. One young woman gets up and offers her seat, but Dean J declines. She chats animatedly with them for a few moments, her hands gesturing and her eyes turning to each member of the group, drawing them in with her bright smile. When she leaves the group and walks away, Dean J is still calling back over her shoulder and talking to them, still waving her hands and greeting others in her path who welcome her with the same warmth. “Dean J” is Shirley Jefferson, associate dean for Diversity and Student Affairs at Vermont Law School (VLS) in South Royalton. She is also an alumna, having earned her Juris Doctor degree from Vermont’s only law school in 1986. Jefferson’s ebullient personality and empathetic nature have made her the most popular person on campus. Students, faculty, and staff are quick to praise her and many are in awe of Jefferson’s achievements. Academic Dean and Professor Stephanie Willbanks has known Jefferson for over 20 years: first as a hard-working student who also babysat for Willbanks’ daughter, and now as a respected and beloved colleague. She calls Jefferson “one of the truly inspiring women in my life.” Willbanks recalls that very few people of color — students or faculty — were on the VLS campus when Jefferson arrived in 1983. “Here was a woman with more courage and more strength of character than anyone I’ve ever met in my life. I feel honored to have met and worked with Shirley Jefferson,” Willbanks says. “She’s a very empowering woman. It’s hard not to be inspired by her,” agrees Jefferson’s executive assistant Theresa Johnson. “Shirley encouraged me to speak out more. I’m a very shy, quiet person. She taught me that I need to take more risks.” Jefferson knows about risk-taking. She came to VLS as the single mother of an infant with just one dollar in her purse, a black woman amongst a sea of white faces. Jefferson grew up in Selma, Alabama and attended segregated schools. In March 1965 she witnessed first-hand Bloody Sunday and the savage beatings of peaceful protesters by police who were trying to prevent African Americans from securing full voting rights; and she participated in the historic walk to Montgomery later that month. She had the honor of marching with Martin Luther King, Jr., but is quick to mention Jose Williams and John Lewis, who, she notes, were in the trenches and did not get the acknowledgement they deserved. She credits the two for “teaching young people to stand up for themselves”, and it’s clear she did just that. Jefferson ventured north to pursue her dream of becoming a civil rights lawyer so that she could help people who suffered from injustices such as those she had witnessed in her youth. She came to VLS on a scholarship, with the desire to help black people, though once she delved into her studies, she realized she wanted to help people — period. As a student in the law school’s legal aid clinic, some of Jefferson’s clients had never seen a black person. She became friends with many of them and stayed in touch after graduation. Reflecting back on her desire to pursue law in order to fight racial injustice, Jefferson’s voice belies a degree of disappointment: “I thought I could change how things are, but it comes down to people… People have to get to know and accept one another for our differences, not making fun of others with foolish ideas of racial superiority. We’re all here for too short a period of time.” When she arrived on campus, Jefferson was not only one of the few women of color, she was older than many of the students who came to law school fresh from college. Approaching 30, she had already experienced more than some of her peers ever would. Willbanks recalls her as a serious student who put everything she could into her studies, while also raising her son, Jamaal, entirely on her own. Jamaal’s father wanted to marry her but Jefferson says it would have been suffocating. “I couldn’t spend time in a relationship and still continue to do what I wanted,” she explains. “I am so used to doing what I like to do.” Jamaal is now 25 years old and a single parent, too. He has shared custody of his one year-old daughter, Liyah, and they live with Jefferson in their Tunbridge home. Jamaal, like his mother, is a loving and dedicated parent. He credits her with teaching him patience but also showing him the power of love. “She taught me that if you put all your love out there for your child, you can’t go wrong,” he says. Jefferson worked tirelessly through law school and spent her final summer working for the NAACP legal defense fund. After graduating from VLS, she was offered a clerkship in the law office of a New Hampshire judge. But at the urging of her mentor, VLS professor Gil Kujovich, she moved to Washington, D.C. to work for the United Black Fund (UBF) instead. “He kept on after me about going to help black people,” she remembers of Kujovich, who still teaches at the law school. “He told me I needed to get experience helping them.” She worked her way up to the position of general counsel for the UBF but decided to return to VLS in 1999, in part to get her son into a more healthful environment than he was exposed to in D.C. She came back as director of alumni relations and special assistant to admissions, and later accepted her current position when the opening occurred. “Primarily, I loved VLS and wanted to give back to it what it gave to me.” Jefferson puts herself wholly into everything she undertakes. She advocates for the students, spending long hours helping them through the difficult times that arise during the law school years. She even cooks Thanksgiving dinner for them at her home. Joe Griffo is a second-year student and one of Jefferson’s student ambassadors (upper division students who, among other things, help incoming students make the transition into law school and assist at VLS events throughout the year). While some do the job for pay, Griffo volunteered – because he wanted to help “Dean J.” He recalls one day when he went to her office for what was supposed to be a 15-minute meeting. He walked out four hours later, not realizing how much time had passed. “She has a good way about her. I’ve never seen it before in anybody,” he says fondly. “Great structures often stand upon four pillars, and Vermont Law School is no different. If there are four pillars that hold up this school, Dean J is definitely one of them.” Classmate Katie Rebholz agrees. She met Jefferson during her orientation and was immediately impressed. This past year, Rebholz was president of the Student Bar Association, so the two met frequently. She describes Jefferson as “sincere, dynamic, and energetic — someone you can always depend on. She is inspiring as a woman and as a lawyer,” says Rebholz, who graduated in May. Griffo and Rebholz are just two of the countless students who stream into Dean J’s office every day in search of sage advice, a loving hug, or maybe just a few minutes in her “cussin’ chair” — a wooden rocker she won in a campus raffle — where they are encouraged to blow off steam. “We all get angry,” she says with a go-on-try-it wave of her hand. “I let them sit in the chair and get it out of their systems. Then they feel so much better.” Jefferson is a strong, impassioned, and spiritual woman with a Southern drawl and hearty laugh as big as her heart. At just an inch shy of six feet tall, she stands out, and would even if she weren’t always dressed in the epitome of style. The walls of her office are adorned with various honors and awards she has received over the years — the Phenomenal Faculty Woman Award, Women’s Law Group Award, and the Student Bar Association Staff Service Award, to name only a few. She was appointed by Governor Jim Douglas to the Vermont State Police Advisory Commission in February. She beams with pride over the photos of her “grandbaby” Liyah even more than her many certificates. And she basks in the warmth of the students who clearly admire, respect, and adore her. “These students are the driving force behind me. I love them,” she beams. “I try to catch them before they fall and they catch me before I drop.” After years of overcoming obstacles, Jefferson takes nothing in life for granted. She left home in Alabama to pursue her dream in Vermont, leaving behind her infant son until she could get settled. Then she worked diligently through law school while also taking on outside jobs and parenting her son, often just barely getting by. She lost a sister to breast cancer; she never married. But Jefferson is not lonely, however. Her days are filled with the friendly faces at VLS and much of her free time is made richer by her son and granddaughter. She talks about having time for herself — “Shirley time,” she calls it — but says she doesn’t take much of that. She’s too busy taking care of others. Ask her who takes care of Shirley and she is quick to respond, “God.” A loyal churchgoer, Jefferson’s powerful and moving singing voice often resonates through the First Congregational Church of Royalton, whe re she has been a member ever since moving to Vermont. She often preaches there and is called upon to sing and speak at many other area churches. Willbanks, who has heard Jefferson sing at her own church in Strafford, describes her as “big of heart and big of spirit.” Not only has Jefferson worked diligently to enrich the school’s diversity, she has also been a respected educator and unrelenting friend and advocate for the students who cherish her. VLS gave her a full scholarship, providing her the only way to pursue her dream of becoming a lawyer. In retrospect, the investment in the young woman has delivered an immeasurable return. Ask anyone who knows Shirley Jefferson and they’ll say that the law school got the much richer end of the deal. Sue Publicover is a writer and marketing consultant for Tree Frog Studio in Castleton. |