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Reinstated Tenured Professor Sang Kil Sues CSU After Failed Attempt to Fire Her for Pro-Palestine Advocacy

Dr. Sang Kil, a tenured professor at San Jose State University, joined lawyers from Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai LLP to announce that her termination for engaging in pro-Palestine activism has been overturned and that she has sued the University to vindicate her civil rights.

“I am relieved that this long, grueling ordeal has come to an end for me. I am happy the arbitrator found in my favor, and I get my job back,” said Dr. Sang Kil. “I am bringing this lawsuit to get justice after this targeted repression by SJSU and CSU for my pro-Palestinian activism in protesting an ongoing genocide."

On November 21, 2025, San Jose State University, a California State University school, became the first public American university ever to fire a full tenured professor, Dr. Sang Kil, for engaging in on-campus activism in support of Palestine. Dr. Kil is an Asian-American, queer woman who has dedicated their professional and personal life to advocating against state-sanctioned violence and oppression, including Israel’s violence in Palestine. In the spring of 2024, Dr. Kil attended three on-campus demonstrations in support of Palestine. SJSU then terminated Dr. Kil, ignoring a Faculty Hearing Committee’s factual findings and recommendation and claiming that she had violated university policies when she attended these demonstrations. Meanwhile, SJSU chose not to fire another professor who assaulted a student but expressed pro-Israel views.
“SJSU’s unequal treatment of Dr. Kil resolves any doubt: SJSU terminated Dr. Kil because she spoke out in support of Palestine as an Asian-American, queer woman,” said Rebecca Brown, an attorney with Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai. “SJSU’s actions threaten free speech rights and academic freedom across the country.”

On June 22, 2026, an arbitrator overturned SJSU’s termination of Dr. Kil, and ordered that Dr. Kil be reinstated to their tenured position with the university’s Justice Studies Department with back pay. The arbitrator ruled that the “charges against Dr. Kil do not rise to the level of dismissal of a tenured faculty member,” and reduced the termination to a one-month suspension. The arbitrator noted that “the propriety of imposing the ultimate sanction of employment termination for free-speech activity, even if its exercise clashed with institutional restrictions, is questionable.”

“Our public universities have an educational mission and constitutional mandate to protect free speech, but SJSU made the cowardly choice to fire its own professor because they did not agree with her personal political views,” said Brian Olney, an attorney with Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai. “The University tried to destroy Dr. Kil’s thriving career but they cannot silence her voice.”

Dr. Kil, represented by attorneys Rebecca Brown and Brian Olney of Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai, has now filed a lawsuit against CSU and SJSU leadership for their attempts to silence and punish her for speaking out in solidarity with Palestine and members of the Muslim and Arab communities. The termination of Dr. Kil is shocking and unprecedented in American higher education. It raises grave constitutional, legal, and ethical concerns for American public education and academia.

In their lawsuit, Dr. Kil alleges that CSU and SJSU’s leadership have violated her rights guaranteed by the California Fair Housing and Employment Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the First Amendment.

Media outlets including the Los Angeles Times, the Guardian, and Mondoweiss highlighted the lawsuit.