Protesting to San Jose State U. for Firing Tenured Professor Sang Hea Kil for Palestine Protest

Cynthia Teniente-Matson

President

San José State University

sjsupres@sjsu.edu . . .

 

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 terminate the employment of Professor Sang Hea Kil, a tenured member of the Department of Justice Studies, due to alleged violations of university time, manner and place rules. This action not only constitutes an egregious violation of Professor Kil’s academic freedom and her right to free speech; it is also grossly disproportionate and sets a very dangerous precedent that undermines the foundations of a democratic society.

 

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 a faculty advisor to SJSU’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and acted as a liaison between the students and the university administration. On 25 April 2024 the SJSU Title IX Office informed Professor Kil that she was under investigation for allegedly “disrupting the university’s business operations and encouraging 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, and she was subsequently placed on administrative leave with pay and barred from her office. In a letter to the SJSU administration dated 3 June 2024 we expressed our grave concern about Professor Kil’s suspension, noting that she had not been provided details or evidence of her alleged misconduct. We noted that, according to Article 17 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the California Faculty Association and the California State University system, “strong and compelling evidence” is required to justify the suspension of a faculty member.

 

On 12 June 2025 Jeanne Durr, SJSU’s Interim Senior Associate Vice President, notified Professor Kil that she would be dismissed from her tenured faculty position because of her alleged violation of university rules regarding time, manner and place during the two protest events in 2024. It appears to us that your administration’s claims about Professor Kil’s behavior fall far short of the “strong and compelling evidence” required to dismiss a tenured faculty member. Moreover, exploiting university rules regarding the time, manner and place of protests to sanction a faculty member for political speech, especially in such an extreme and disproportionate way, is extraordinary and unprecedented. SJSU’s decision to dismiss Professor Kil thus amounts to the weaponization of university rules in order to silence political speech and violate her academic freedom.

 

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 the decision to dismiss Professor Kil and to formally apologize to her for the abusive treatment to which she has been subjected. We further call on you to publicly and forcefully 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 A. Brand
Chair, Committee on Academic Freedom
Professor Emerita, University of Southern California