{"id":4809,"date":"2026-06-29T21:52:03","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T21:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/2026\/06\/29\/tenured-california-professor-fired-over-gaza-protest-wins-job-back\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T21:52:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T21:52:03","slug":"tenured-california-professor-fired-over-gaza-protest-wins-job-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/?p=4809","title":{"rendered":"Tenured California professor fired over Gaza protest wins job back"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-gu-name=\"media\" class=\"dcr-14sl0e4\">\n<div class=\"dcr-17l77cs\">\n<figure id=\"0d2f5aba-90f3-473b-b600-5dbe050c84cd\" class=\"dcr-191xnya\">\n<div id=\"img-1\" class=\"dcr-1t7hdmw\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"a woman wearing sunglasses \" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/31fcc7c93f9ab2ec7d43728de9a62af981243f9e\/0_678_1170_1346\/master\/1170.jpg?width=465&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" width=\"465\" height=\"534.9487179487179\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"dcr-up96pv\"><span class=\"dcr-kogzpx\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-18mnkpm\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1294qmb\"><label for=\"the-checkbox\" class=\"dcr-4sl2vt\"><\/label> <\/p>\n<div id=\"the-caption\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1mfxiaj\"><span class=\"dcr-13i4yc9\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1cipnsy\">Sang Hea Kil said she was \u2018relieved\u2019 to get her job back but determined to keep speaking out for Palestinian rights and free speech.<\/span> Photograph: Sang Hea Kil<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><a href=\"#img-1\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-zwabc0\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><button data-element-id=\"0d2f5aba-90f3-473b-b600-5dbe050c84cd\" type=\"button\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-1bitgpn\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><span class=\"dcr-1shbixy\">View image in fullscreen<\/span><\/button><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"dcr-qda0hp\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1e9iiy9\"><span class=\"dcr-13i4yc9\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1cipnsy\">Sang Hea Kil said she was \u2018relieved\u2019 to get her job back but determined to keep speaking out for Palestinian rights and free speech.<\/span> Photograph: Sang Hea Kil<\/figcaption><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"headline\" class=\"dcr-ql9l8l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-6mja0y\">\n<h1 class=\"dcr-l0wuod\">Tenured California professor fired over Gaza protest wins job back<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"standfirst\" class=\"dcr-1xpojbf\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1gm5ptv\">\n<p>Arbitrator rules California State University system violated law when it dismissed Sang Hea Kil, who now plans to sue<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"body\" class=\"dcr-x1al2c\">\n<div class=\"dcr-11gq2tx\">\n<div id=\"maincontent\" class=\"dcr-1w2vkyc\">\n<div class=\"article-body-commercial-selector article-body-viewer-selector dcr-ogvvui\">\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">A tenured professor who was fired last year over her pro-Palestinian activism has won her job back and is suing her university over the termination.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Last November, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2025\/dec\/05\/tenured-professor-fired-pro-palestinian-protests\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Sang Hea Kil<\/a>, a justice studies professor at San Jos\u00e9 State University in California, became the first tenured faculty member to be dismissed from a US public university following nationwide campus protests over Israel\u2019s enduring war in Gaza. After several appeals, an arbitrator last week ruled that the California State University system had violated the law and ordered it to reinstate her. Kil had previously filed a lawsuit against CSU, which it accused of \u201cdiscriminatory and retaliatory attempts to silence her\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">A spokesperson for the university declined to comment on personnel matters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Kil said she was \u201crelieved\u201d to get her job back but determined to keep speaking out for Palestinian rights and free speech.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cThe arbitration hearing outcome in my favor shows that the first amendment of the constitution is not dead at San Jos\u00e9 State University,\u201d she told the Guardian. \u201cWhich was in question when they targeted me for merely showing up to anti-genocide events on my campus to support students protesting the Israeli destruction of Gaza and its people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Kil was one of several university professors and staff to be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2025\/nov\/13\/kentucky-professor-israel-lawsuit\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">suspended<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2025\/sep\/11\/campus-investigations-professors-gaza-antisemitism\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">investigated<\/a> and in some cases dismissed or forced out in connection to the wave of pro-Palestinian protests that swept US campuses in the first year of Israel\u2019s war in Gaza. She was the first tenured professor to be dismissed from a public university since <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/education\/2014\/sep\/09\/professor-israel-criticism-twitter-university-illinois\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Steven Salaita<\/a>, who was fired in 2014 from the University of Illinois over a series of social media posts critical of Israel\u2019s bombing of Gaza that year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">In a lawsuit filed in May with the superior court of California, county of Santa Clara, Kil argued the state university system violated employment law as well as the first amendment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cThis is one of the most egregious and extreme examples of repression of pro-Palestine speech that we\u2019ve seen,\u201d Rebecca Brown, one of Kil\u2019s attorneys, said at a press conference announcing the lawsuit on Monday. \u201cThis is a tenured professor who was fired over a free speech activity \u2013 a punishment that\u2019s usually reserved for professors who engage in conduct like sexual assault or physical violence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Kil\u2019s firing stemmed from a February 2024 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insidehighered.com\/news\/faculty-issues\/academic-freedom\/2024\/02\/27\/professors-evacuated-put-leave-hectic-pro-palestine\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">confrontation<\/a> involving students and a faculty member at a tense protest on campus, which she attended. The university also accused her of making remarks at a different event that it said encouraged students to stage an encampment in violation of university policy, as well as of eventually participating in such a student-led encampment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Kil, a faculty adviser for the university\u2019s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, said she had attended the protest in a personal capacity and that while there she witnessed another faculty member \u201cassault\u201d a student. That faculty member was briefly suspended but later reinstated \u2013 a decision that she argued showed \u201cdeep disparity of due process and equal protection\u201d on the part of the university. She also said she joined a student-led encampment for three nights after similar ones in other cities were raided by police, leading to dozens of students being arrested.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cA lot of my work is critical of policing, and I felt, because of what happened in New York and Los Angeles, obliged to camp with [students],\u201d Kil said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The university terminated her against the recommendation of a faculty committee that reviewed the incidents and found that while she had violated some university policies, that the dismissal was disproportionate and not justified, according to internal documents reviewed by the Guardian.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The independent arbitrator who reviewed the case agreed \u2013 ruling that the charge against Kil did not \u201crise to the level of dismissal of a tenured faculty member\u201d, reducing her termination to a one-month suspension, and ordering the university to reinstate her with backpay.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cThe propriety of imposing the ultimate sanction of employment termination for free-speech activity, even if its exercise clashed with institutional restrictions, is questionable,\u201d the arbitrator noted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-print-layout=\"hide\" class=\"dcr-swayiu\"><span class=\"dcr-1xhbmzr\">Explore more on these topics<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-2c03t5\">\n<ul class=\"dcr-p7nd18\">\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/us-universities\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">US universities<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/protests--us-\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">Protest (US)<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/world\/israel-hamas-war\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">Israel-Gaza war<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/tone\/news\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">news<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dcr-313bdz\"><a href=\"mailto:?subject=Tenured%20California%20professor%20fired%20over%20Gaza%20protest%20wins%20job%20back&amp;body=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/jun\/29\/california-professor-gaza-protest-reinstated?CMP=share_btn_url\" class=\"dcr-ncybeu\">Share<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-19bkree\"><a data-link-name=\"meta-syndication-article\" href=\"https:\/\/syndication.theguardian.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2026%2Fjun%2F29%2Fcalifornia-professor-gaza-protest-reinstated&amp;type=article&amp;internalpagecode=us-news\/2026\/jun\/29\/california-professor-gaza-protest-reinstated\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"Reuse this content\" class=\"dcr-1c41onw\">Reuse this content<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"right-column\" class=\"dcr-axwinp\"><span class=\"dcr-1ryr20k\"><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sang Hea Kil said she was \u2018relieved\u2019 to get her job back but determined to keep speaking out<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4811,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}