UCLA Sociology Chair Edward Walker must rescind his dismissal of faculty member Beth Ribet from UCLA's Sociology department!

UCLA must create stronger protections against anti-union retaliation and against disability discrimination, and must affirm the rights of faculty to utilize universal design for learning principles!

Background: Walker recently terminated Professor Beth Ribet's appointment as a UCLA lecturer in Sociology. Beth Ribet is among a number of UCLA faculty with disabilities who use "universal design" principles when teaching. Universal design increases accessibility of education for students, particularly those with disabilities. UCLA clearly encourages faculty to use universal design for learning whenever possible.

However, Walker used Professor Ribet's universal design approach as a basis to fire her.

Walker relied on an evaluation completed by 2023-2024 Sociology Vice-Chair Jessica Collett. Collett's evaluation is riddled with evidence of bad faith. Notwithstanding glowing student evaluations and an excellent teaching portfolio, the UCLA Department of Sociology explicitly identified Professor Ribet's use of universal design as one of the primary reasons her teaching was not deemed effective. Collett criticizes Dr. Ribet's documented kindness, flexibility, generosity, approachability, and knowledge, describing her commitments to equitable education as supposed evidence of instructional failure.  Students deserve the opportunity to take classes that utilize universal design, and faculty should never be penalized for enhancing disability access!

Walker's decision to terminate seems designed to exclude Dr. Ribet's voice from UCLA's Sociology department. Professor Ribet is a labor organizer who actively trains other union members on civil rights issues throughout the UC system. Within UCLA’s Sociology Department, she has built stronger partnerships between UC-AFT lecturers and UAW graduate students, and taken a lead role in addressing the dynamics of labor exploitation. Before her termination, she engaged in multiple difficult discussions about labor rights with Walker and Collett. Soon after these disputes, she was negatively evaluated by Collett and terminated by Walker.

Collett and Walker's retaliation against Dr. Ribet's legally protected labor advocacy cannot stand. Dozens of UCLA faculty have already written a letter to UCLA Social Sciences Dean Abel Valenzuela to contest the UCLA Sociology Department’s unjust and poorly supported termination of Professor Ribet.

Now, the Disabled Student Union and the Student Labor Advocacy Project at UCLA join with the University Council-American Federation of Teachers Local 1474 (UC-AFT) to ask for your support in fighting back against disability discrimination and anti-union retaliation!

Alt-text: Circular black and white logo reads "UCLA Disabled Student Union" wrapping around a honeycomb-style center design. Center has symbols for a service dog, sign-language, blindness, deafness, wheelchair, and a brain in each of the five honeycomb spots, with "DSU" in the middle.

Alt-text: Orange logo shaped like a comic book impact with spiked edges with a magenta outline reads "SLAP" in lime green lettering and "Student Labor Advocacy Project" in black and yellow in all caps. Behind the letters is a blue hand moving in a slapping motion, with yellow sparkles in the background.
Alt-text: The UC-AFT logo features an outline of the state of California with the words UC-AFT Local 1474. The letter "T" in UC-AFT resembles a torch, with a flame at the top of the letter.