Justice Yvette McGee Brown has been reminding voters to “vote Brown all the way down” during her campaign for re-election to the Supreme Court of Ohio, but it is her Athens roots that helped take her from Southeast Ohio north to her position in Columbus.
Thirty years ago, Brown attended Ohio University, where she said she gained invaluable knowledge and learned leadership skills before graduating in 1982 with a degree in public relations. She later won the Ohio University Medal of Merit and in 2011 became the first African-American woman to serve on the Supreme Court of Ohio.
“I honed my leadership skills in Athens,” Brown said. “I was able to get involved as a freshman. I learned how to lead and be an active member of the community. OU helped me to develop a confidence in myself.”
Brown, a first-generation college graduate, recalled living in Boyd Hall as a freshman, hosting a Sunday-night radio show, being a part of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, enjoying Court Street on the weekends and working at The Post — an experience she said that helped her realize journalism wasn’t for her.
James Barnes, former chair of OU’s department of political science and former dean of the Center for Afro-American Studies, said he has fond memories of Brown during her time at OU.
“She was quite active and visible on campus during a period when the
number of black students at OU was increasing and the demand for increased recognition and significance of the ‘black factor’ in higher ed was a hot agenda item,” Barnes wrote in an email. “Obviously bright and personable.”
Brown also said that her former adviser, Sandra Haggerty, an associate professor in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, helped her in finding her life path.
“I remember Yvette very well; she was one of my best students,” Haggerty said. “She worked very hard to be where she is.”
Haggerty recalls one conversation with her former student that helped to define Brown’s career path.
“I remember saying to her when she graduated, ‘What do you want to do with this journalism degree?’” Haggerty said. “She said, ‘Maybe I will go to D.C. and see if I could get a media job.’ I told her, if she’s going to D.C., she had to get a law degree. Before we knew it, she was in law school.”
Brown, who is running for her Supreme Court seat against Republican Sharon Kennedy, has recently been campaigning all throughout Ohio.
“It’s exhausting, an absolutely huge state to travel around,” said Brown, who later joked, “I’d rather be going around a state the size of Rhode Island.”
As a justice, Brown said her most important duty is to decide cases, which can include major decisions involving tough matters like the death penalty.
“You must always bring your best judgment,” Brown said. “What is most important to not forget is that we are affecting flesh-and-blood human beings.”
Brown, who is the only Democratic justice on the court, said her favorite part of the job is the opportunity to speak with young people about both the law and its future.
“At 19 and 20 (years old), you think you have your whole life planned out, but you really have no idea the things that will be thrown your way,” Brown said. “You just have to take things in stride. Enjoy the journey; it can’t just be about the next accomplishment.”
as299810@ohiou.edu
