degree, Jefferson returned to Washington, D.C., and worked as legislative assistant to Councilwoman Wilhelmina J. Rolark. She went on to join Rolark's law firm as an associate. Jefferson then served as general counsel for the United Black Fund, and helped to organize activities in 30 communities. In 1999, Jefferson returned to Vermont to become alumni relations for Vermont Law School. In 2001, she was named interim assistant dean for student affairs, also chairing the law school's diversity committee. She currently serves as associate dean and on the faculty as an associate professor, teaching Race and the Law. As associate dean, she has advised the Student Bar Association and 60 other organizations. As of 2019, the entering class at VLS was 53 percent female, was 31 percent people of color. In 2021, Jefferson was appointed to the board of trustees of the Vermont State Colleges System. In 2022, she was appointed vice president for community engagement and government affairs at Vermont Law and Graduate School. Mural controversy After George Floyd was killed by police in Minnesota in 2020, Jefferson decided to push for the removal of a mural depicting slavery in the Vermont Law School student center. Painted from 1993 to 1994 by Quebec artist Sam Kerson, the mural includes scenes of a slave market, and a white slaveowner wielding a whip over a group of black men. Since joining the law school staff in 1999, Jefferson had periodically received complaints from students expressing their discomfort with the mural, but typically told them to focus on their education rather than being distracted by the artwork. In 2013 and 2014, the VLS Diversity Committee discussed the objections to the mural, and installed plaques to explain its original intent to condemn slavery. In May 2020, students circulated a petition calling for the removal of the mural, due to the way in which the African American figures were depicted, with exaggerated features which were "degrading" and resembled "caricatures designed to perpetuate the white superiority views that have been embedded on our entire societal structure". Jefferson contacted the dean and received support for the mural's removal, resulting in a lengthy legal fight with the artist, who has sued to stop Vermont Law School from covering the mural permanently. Personal life During her third year of college, Jefferson became a single mother and started raising a son. References External links The Heart and Soul of Vermont