articles in local newspapers, including the Staten Island Advance and the Staten Island Register, described the crowded, filthy living conditions at Willowbrook, and the negligent treatment of some of its residents. Jane Kurtin was the first reporter to write a story about Willowbrook State School after she visited Willowbrook in order to cover a demonstration that social workers and parents of the residents had organized. Kurtin wanted to get inside the buildings, and social workers Elizabeth Lee and Ira Fisher brought her inside. Shortly thereafter, in early 1972, Geraldo Rivera, then an investigative reporter for WABC-TV in New York, conducted a series of investigations at Willowbrook uncovering a host of deplorable conditions, including overcrowding, inadequate sanitary facilities, and physical and sexual abuse of residents by members of the school's staff. Rivera then visited several facilities in California. While the conditions in the California facilities were found to have been significantly improved, the conditions at Willowbrook remained neglectful. The exposé, entitled Willowbrook: The Last Great Disgrace, garnered national attention and won a Peabody Award for Rivera. Rivera later appeared on the nationally televised Dick Cavett Show with film of patients at the school. As a result of the overcrowding and inhumane conditions, a class-action lawsuit was filed against the State of New York by the parents of 5,000 residents of Willowbrook in federal court on March 17, 1972. This was known as New York ARC v. Rockefeller. Elizabeth Lee's employment was terminated in 1972 as a result of her activism with the parents. In 1975, a consent judgment was signed, and it committed New York state to improve community placement for the, now designated, "Willowbrook Class." The publicity generated by the case was a major contributing factor to the passage of a federal law — the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act of 1980. According to a February 2020 New York Times investigation "[t]hat vow has been broken: Many of the institution's 2,300 alumni who are alive today still suffer from mistreatment." The Times reported that in 2019 there have been "97 reported allegations of physical abuse by group home workers against Willowbrook alumni..." also "34 allegations of psychological abuse and hundreds more of neglect and other mistreatment, like improper use of restraints or seclusion, medication errors and theft." Investigations were conducted by the New York State Office for People With Developmental Disabilities but were unable to prove abuse claiming that