Sang Hea Kil, a tenured professor at San José State University in California, is fighting her dismissal after being fired last month for her pro-Palestinian activism. She is the first tenured faculty member fired from a US public university in connection to campus protests against Israel's war in Gaza.
Kil, a longtime member of the justice studies department and faculty adviser for the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, is contesting the decision. The university's case against her stems from a February 2024 protest where she was present during an altercation between student protesters and a faculty member filming them. She was also accused of encouraging students to stage an encampment and participating in one.
Kil says she attended the protest in a personal capacity and that the other faculty member assaulted a student. She joined the student encampment partly because similar encampments in other cities were raided by police. She stayed for three of the ten days.
The California Faculty Association, representing Kil in arbitration, expressed outrage at her dismissal. Union representative V Jesse Smith said, 'You can't fire people for their beliefs and expression. It's an infringement on free speech and academic freedom.' Kil plans to sue if arbitration fails.
At her public appeal hearing, Kil described the university's actions as 'New McCarthyism, where geopolitical interests interfere with constitutional rights and academic freedom.' A faculty committee reviewing the dismissal confirmed some policy violations but concluded the dismissal was disproportionate.
