On Monday, news of the death of Cheryl Hanna reverberated around Vermont. Best known as a professor at Vermont Law School, Hanna was frequently seen, heard, and read in Vermont media demystifying complicated legal concepts and court decisions. We always appreciated her perspective as a guest on Vermont Edition, and VPR listeners have heard her commentaries for more than 15 years, some about legal issues and some more personal in nature. Equal to her passion for explaining the law to others was a commitment to women’s rights and gender equality.
We invited the executive director of the Vermont Commission on Women, Cary Brown, to share some of her reflections on Hanna’s work. Also in this program, we broadcast a previously unaired story that Hanna recorded at a VPR event in May, in which she described how she defied the low expectations of others.
