Darah “Dolly” Wilson, known to her students as Professor Wilson, has been a beloved mentor and lecturer in the school of nursing at UCLA for the last four years. In addition to working on the front lines of the pandemic as an ICU Nurse and Urgent Care Nurse Practitioner, Dolly taught 9 in-person lab classes, often for twelve hours a day, drawing from over a decade of experience to make sure UCLA nursing students were prepared to enter the clinical setting amidst an unprecedented public health emergency. She also advocated for her colleagues, spearheading efforts to address sky-high workload expectations that have forced some of the school of nursing’s best clinical faculty to leave UCLA.

Despite Dolly’s amazing contributions and the incredible sacrifices she and other front line healthcare workers have made throughout the pandemic, the UCLA administration has retaliated against her for her union activism by refusing to renew her contract. Although they say their “needs have changed,” her classes continue to be required courses for students and will likely be assigned to other, less experienced lecturers. We believe it’s unjust, illegal, and illustrative of the lack of respect that lecturers face across the UC system.

Add your name to this petition to demand the school of nursing show respect to the nurses and nursing instructors who have sacrificed so much during the pandemic and reinstate Dolly immediately.

Dolly is a leader in UC-AFT, the union representing the 6,800 teaching faculty at the University of California. Our democratically-elected negotiating team has been in collective bargaining negotiations with UC for over two years, fighting for a fair contract with protections that will prevent precisely the kind of gross retaliation that Dolly has endured. Our members are standing together to demand an end to the UC’s arbitrary dismissals, to address the epidemic of unpaid work among our members, and to hold UC management accountable to the teaching mission of our university. We're fighting for respect, dignity, and compensation commensurate with our essential roles—on our campuses and in our communities— so that future nurses can count on having mentors and role-models like Dolly to support them. You can learn more about our campaign at weteachuc.org.

We will not stand by while the school of nursing attacks the livelihood and passion of a lecturer asserting her rights.

Tell Dean Linda Sarna (lsarna@sonnet.ucla.edu, (310) 825-9621) that the UCLA community and UC lecturers won’t accept the way Dolly is being treated. Her years of service and dedication deserve more respect.

Sign the petition to tell the UC that not one lecturer more should be let go for simply standing up for their contractual rights!