LOS ANGELES-The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California today announced Brooks Allen will serve as the new Director of Education Advocacy, a position designed to identify critical civil rights issues in California’s public schools and help create comprehensive strategies for protecting students’ rights.

Allen, 36, has been with the ACLU since 2004 as a statewide implementation lawyer for student plaintiffs in Williams v. California. The ACLU/SC, along with other civil rights organizations, filed a lawsuit against the state because of the terrible conditions in many of its public schools. The Williams case argued that California failed to provide thousands of public school students, particularly those in low-income communities and communities of color, with the basic necessities required for an education.

The settlement announced in 2004 requires that all students have books and that their schools be clean and safe. It takes steps to make sure that students have qualified teachers and that schools deliver these important resources to students.

“From my earliest years and throughout my career, I’ve been in and around schools,” said Brooks Allen. “Here at the ACLU, I’ve seen our legal victories transform students’ day-to-day experience across California, restoring heat to freezing classrooms, ensuring that teachers are better prepared, and putting new books into students’ hands. In at least once instance, students literally stood up and cheered as long-awaited books were delivered. Sadly, there is very little to cheer about right now. We must continue to fight to ensure our state’s budget crisis and the resulting fall out does not deprive any student of the meaningful educational opportunities required to make the promise of public education a reality."

As director, he will continue to serve as statewide implementation lawyer for student plaintiffs in Williams v. California, monitoring compliance with the legislation and regulations implementing the settlement, advocating for legislation and regulations to preserve and improve the effectiveness of settlement terms, and serving as a resource to county superintendents, state and district officials.

“I am confident Brooks will continue to strive for excellence when it comes to the education of our children,” said Ramona Ripston, executive director of ACLU/SC. “We could not have chosen a better and more dedicated individual for this important position.”

Allen will assume his new position effective immediately.

LOS ANGELES -- Hector Villagra has been named to succeed Ramona Ripston as executive director of the ACLU of Southern California, becoming the first Latino to hold the post.

Villagra, 42, the ACLU/SC’s legal director, has played a key role in several high-profile civil rights cases in the region.

“It is a humbling honor to be tasked with leading an organization that has meant so much to Southern California,” Villagra said Monday. “So many diverse communities find themselves in need of civil liberties protections, and I intend to continue this organization’s proud tradition of protecting everyone’s rights.”

An icon in the region’s civil rights community, Ripston announced earlier this year she was stepping down after 38 years. Villagra will succeed Ripston when she retires on February 15, 2011.

“I am elated and thrilled that Hector will succeed me,” Ripston said. “Los Angeles and Southern California must show the rest of the nation what it means to function in a multiethnic, civically engaged society. Hector’s intelligence and experience will make him a leader in that effort.”

A native of Southern California, Villagra earned his law degree from Columbia University School of Law in 1994. He joined the ACLU/SC in 2005, and became legal director in 2009. During his tenure at the ACLU/SC, Villagra has built an impressive record in civil rights litigation.

In 2008, he helped uphold LAPD’s Special Order 40, which prohibits officers from using immigration status to initiate investigations. Special Order 40 helps encourage immigrants to provide information to police and is an important crime-fighting tool.

Villagra was instrumental in helping protect a Buddhist congregation's First Amendment rights to free religious exercise after the City of Garden Grove denied the Quan Am Temple's request for a building permit. The ACLU/SC filed suit against the city in 2006, and later helped secure an agreement that ultimately resulted in a permit.

Villagra also settled a case against the County of San Bernardino where the county jail policy required the removal of the headscarf known as the hijab, forcing Muslim women to violate their religious beliefs.

His selection was confirmed unanimously this month by the board of directors of the ACLU and the ACLU Foundation.

"Hector is ideally suited for the position of executive director,” said Stephen Rohde, chair of the ACLU Foundation. “He has the mind of a brilliant lawyer, the compassion of a community organizer and the people skills to inspire our staff, work closely with board members and encourage support from all our donors and stakeholders."

ACLU President Alan Toy said Hector “has a deep understanding of social justice as it applies to civil rights and constitutionally guaranteed liberties.”

The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1923 by author and activist Upton Sinclair. The ACLU of Southern California is the oldest and one of the largest, and most progressive affiliates of the ACLU - the nation’s foremost advocate for individual liberty and equality, and its leading guardian against unwarranted government interference and abuse.

SACRAMENTO – Today the California Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Assembly Bill 540 which allows students who attend at least three years of high school in California and who graduate from a California high school (or receive their GED) to qualify for in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities, regardless of their immigration status. The Court found that federal law did not bar California from offering in-state tuition to all students who meet these requirements.

“The California Supreme Court today upheld AB 540, which permits students to pay in-state tuition rates if they attended California high schools for at least three years and graduated from a California high school,” said Hector Villagra, ACLU/SC legal director. “ It was challenged by anti-immigrant groups who said that it provided educational benefits to undocumented immigrants on the basis of residence, in violation of federal law.”

State lawmakers recognized that it is in the best interest of the state to encourage all California high school graduates, including undocumented students, to pursue higher education. Today the Court upheld these principles.

When AB 540 was enacted in October of 2001, it was the second such provision to become law. Since then, eight other states have enacted similar laws, including Utah, New York, Oklahoma, Washington, Kansas, Illinois, New Mexico, and Nebraska.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case, Martinez vs. Regents of the University of California. The ACLU and the National Immigration Law Center were counsel for the amici, which also included the ACLU of Northern California, ACLU of Southern California, ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties and the Orange County Dream Team.

“By upholding AB 540 the court has ensured that California’s colleges and universities remain a viable option for California students, many of whom are likely to remain in state after receiving their degrees. I am happy that the Court has decided that these students should be granted the same opportunity to obtain an affordable education as their classmates,” said Lucero Chavez, an immigrant rights attorney with the ACLU/SC.