From a first-generation student arriving at Stellenbosch University (SU) on a recruitment bursary to becoming a doctoral candidate at the prestigious Yale Law School in the United States, Reshard Kolabhai’s academic and personal journey is as remarkable as it is inspiring.

Originally from Johannesburg, his time at SU started with a year pursuing a music degree, before he realised he enjoyed music most when it is not a career obligation. He found his calling when he switched to law, completing a LLB in 2016 and a LLM thesis in 2020. This experience fostered in him an appreciation for the social nature of law, which he describes as “something we do with and for one another, and that can help us toward a more just society in both the public and private spheres”.

Reshard graduated with his first LLM just as Covid-19 struck. He spent time supporting social movements responding to the crisis before joining North-West University’s Potchefstroom campus as a lecturer, where he taught Constitutional and Human Rights Law for almost three years. Eventually, however, he realised that future growth in academia would require a return to full-time study. 

“I’ve always enjoyed being exposed to new environments, new people, and new ideas, so I took a chance and applied overseas,” he explains. “I was fortunate to receive offers from several top US law schools, and I chose Yale for its small size and its academic orientation. I completed a second prerequisite LLM by coursework there, then applied for and was admitted to the JSD (Doctor of Juridical Science) programme. I’m now about halfway through it.

“The JSD programme culminates in either a monograph (a book-length academic work) or three US-style law review articles. I’m leaning toward the latter, which means most of my days are taken up by reading and writing, close engagement with professors, staff and fellow students, and presenting work at conferences, workshops and similar forums.”

He says what he enjoys most about Yale is its intellectual culture. 

“Yale is exceptionally dynamic and supportive. It creates space for ambitious, rigorous ideas within a warm, close-knit community. Alongside my dissertation work, I’ve taken interdisciplinary courses outside the Law School, taught an official reading group for a semester and served in leadership roles in several student organisations, including founding the Yale African Law Students Association.

“More recently, I was elected as a law senator in Yale’s campus-wide Graduate and Professional Student Senate. I’ve also sung in the Yale Camerata Choir, taken pipe organ lessons, and been elected to the Yale University Guild of Carillonneurs, which performs daily on the carillon [a set of bells played from a large keyboard].”

Among his proudest achievements are receiving the SU Rector’s Award for the best LLM thesis, completed under the supervision of Professors Sandy Liebenberg and Richard Stevens, and becoming the first LLM student from Africa in more than a decade to be admitted to Yale.

Yet his time at SU has left a lasting impression.

“My years in Stellenbosch instilled in me a commitment to rigorous academic standards, and residence and campus life gave me a deep appreciation for the value of living and learning alongside people from different backgrounds and with different views. It also strengthened my belief that we can, and should, make society better for all of us. We ourselves are the leaders we’ve been waiting for, and that South Africa and the world so badly need right now.”

For current students who may be too caught up in the demands of university life to reflect on where they fit into the bigger picture, he offers the following advice:

“See yourself as being in a continuous process of becoming, not as a static being. Do a little bit of something new every day. Push yourself out of your comfort zone. Look past the easy answers and focus on the hard questions. Keep embracing different ways of thinking, being and doing, because it all adds up over time. Above all, be kind. In a time when so much is pulling us apart, strive to be someone who brings people together.”