Protesting San José State University’s Suspension of Professor Sang Hea Kil, Advisor of Students for Justice in Palestine

Dear President Teniente-Matson and colleagues:

 

We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express our grave concern at the decision of the San José State University (SJSU) administration to suspend Professor Sang Hea Kil of the Department of Justice Studies from all faculty duties. There is good reason to believe that this action constitutes an egregious violation of Professor Kil’s academic freedom as well as of her right to free speech. 

 

MESA was founded in 1966 to promote scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa. The preeminent organization in the field, the Association publishes the prestigious International Journal of Middle East Studies and has nearly 2,800 members worldwide. MESA is committed to ensuring academic freedom and freedom of expression, both within the region and in connection with the study of the region in North America and outside of North America.

 

Professor Kil served as faculty advisor to SJSU’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and has acted as a liaison between the students and your administration. On 25 April 2024 SJSU’s Title IX Office informed Professor Kil that she was being investigated because she had allegedly “engaged in behavior that disrupted the university’s business operations and encouraged students to do the same” at a 19 February 2024 protest event organized by SJP. On 24 May 2024 Professor Kil received an amended “notice of investigation” citing another alleged instance of potential misconduct, on 8 May 2024. Neither notice provided any details or evidence of the alleged misconduct. Nonetheless, on 24 May 2024 – the very same day on which SJSU issued its amended notice – Senior Associate Vice President for University Personnel Joanne Wright informed Professor Kil that she had been placed on administrative leave with pay and barred from her office, “for reasons related to the disruption of programs and/or operations, the safety of persons or property, and investigation for formal notice of disciplinary action.”

 

Professor Kil has vigorously denied that she engaged in what your administration characterized, in its letter suspending her, as “unprofessional and exploitative conduct towards students and others…engaging in harassing and offensive conduct and comments directed towards colleagues individually and as a group, targeting at least one colleague and/or a group of colleagues for engaging in their work duties by publicly posting their picture and/or group description with inflammatory comments and creating a risk of harm to them; and activities with and/or directives to students for your own personal interest or gain.” Article 17 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the California Faculty Association and the California State University system requires “strong and compelling evidence” to justify the suspension of a faculty member, yet no such evidence, or even specific details of what Professor Kil is alleged to have done, have been adduced. The allegation that Professor Kil somehow manipulated the members of SJP with whom she worked as faculty advisor to serve her own ends is also disturbing. We are therefore led to conclude that your decision to suspend Professor Kil, without a full and transparent investigation of the allegations against her conducted in accordance with commonly accepted norms and procedures, constitutes a violation of her academic freedom and of her right to speech.

 

In these fraught times university leaders have a heightened responsibility to protect the freedom of speech, academic freedom, and physical safety of all members of the campus community. We call your attention to the statement issued by MESA’s board of directors and its Committee on Academic Freedom on 6 May 2024 which denounced actions by university leaders to delegitimize and repress campus advocacy opposing Israel’s war in Gaza. We also remind you of the statement on “Academic Freedom in Times of War” issued by the American Association of University Professors on 24 October 2023, which is directly relevant to your disciplinary action against Professor Kil:

 

“It is in tumultuous times that colleges’ and universities’ stated commitments to protect academic freedom are most put to the test. As the Israel-Hamas war rages and campus protests proliferate, institutional authorities must refrain from sanctioning faculty members for expressing politically controversial views and should instead defend their right, under principles of academic freedom, to do so.”

 

We therefore call upon you to immediately rescind Professor Kil’s suspension, formally apologize to her for the abusive treatment to which she has been subjected, and publicly reiterate your commitment to protect the academic freedom and the free speech rights of all members of the SJSU community.

  

We look forward to your response.

 

Sincerely,

 

Aslı Ü. Bâli 

MESA President

Professor, Yale Law School

 

Laurie Brand
Chair, Committee on Academic Freedom
Professor Emerita, University of Southern California