Ramona Ripston, the first woman to direct any affiliate office of the American Civil Liberties Union, has been executive director of ACLU Southern California since 1972. The ACLU honored her on October 15 by naming its new Los Angeles office after her. During Ripston’s time at the helm, the ACLU/SC has won landmark cases for equal access to education and scored a victory on behalf of the homeless on L.A.’s Skid Row. It has also seen bitter defeat on affirmative action and taken on clients whose views she personally detested. Here she gets honest with host Brian Frank about her work, starting with a case she is particularly proud of, Williams v. California, which in 2000 held the state accountable for failing to supply all students with basic school materials and access to libraries.