JVP Academic Council condemns San José State University’s firing of Dr. Sang Kil

7 July 2025

Cynthia Teniente-Matson
President
San José State University

Vincent Del Casino
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
San José State University

Jeanne Durr
Interim Senior Associate Vice President, University Personnel
San José State University

Dear President Teniente-Matson and colleagues:

The Academic Council of Jewish Voice for Peace condemns San José State University’s (SJSU) firing of Dr. Sang Kil, tenured Full Professor of Justice Studies. Your firing of Dr. Kil for allegedly violating California State University’s (CSU) “Time, Place, and Manner” policies, constitutes an egregious violation of Professor Kil’s academic freedom and her First Amendment right to free speech. Your response sets a dangerous precedent that immediately and materially undermines those freedoms. This violation of Dr. Kil’s rights undermines teaching, learning, and engagement with political power as core functions of academic work.

As the political far right rises to power in the United States, protecting freedom of speech, academic freedom, and the right to dissent has never been more important. U.S. universities are advancing the far right’s authoritarian agenda by targeting students, faculty, and staff – such as Dr. Kil – who speak out and protest against genocide and in defense of Palestinian human rights. We are witnessing a new McCarthyism that endangers students, faculty, and staff. This repression is all the more ominous as it suppresses mass uprising against the U.S.-supported genocide in Gaza, in which the Israeli state has killed uncounted hundreds of thousands of lives, dispossessed, tortured and starved two million more, and destroyed all spaces of Palestinian life.

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 until she was suspended in May 2024. It was in these roles that she attended the campus events of February, thoApril, and May of 2024. It is outrageous that Dr. Kil’s support for a recognized student organization has served as the basis for the university’s allegations against her. 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 let alone the termination of a faculty member. Such evidence has not been provided. The university has weaponized the rules regulating the “Time, Manner and Place” of protests to silence political speech. Sanctioning a faculty member for political speech is unprecedented. This is a clear violation of Professor Kil’s academic freedom.

By suspending and now initiating the process to terminate Dr. Kil, you are acting against your obligation to protect extramural speech against reprisal. Additionally, you are suppressing free speech and advocacy on your campus, forcefully silencing an important source of antiracist and humanitarian activism on campus. You are also depriving students, faculty, and the San José community of an outstanding and accomplished scholar and highly valued mentor.

As the Middle East Studies Association noted in its June 20, 2025 letter to you, “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.” The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) issued the following statement on “Academic Freedom in Times of War” which should rightly be applied to your disciplinary review of Professor Kil.

It is in tumultuous times that the stated commitments of colleges and universities to protect academic freedom are most seriously put to the test. As the Israeli government’s genocide continues 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 voice their dissent.

The termination of Dr. Kil would sully the reputation of SJSU for generations to come, and threaten the crucial link between academic freedom in universities and truly democratic societies.

We demand that our colleague Dr. Kil be cleared of the baseless charges against her, reinstated to her position, and allowed to resume her role as a highly valued member of the SJSU community and broader academic community across the world.

Sincerely,

Dr. Jonah S. Rubin, Sr. Manager of Campus Organizing on behalf of the Academic Council of Jewish Voice for Peace

JVP is a national, grassroots organization working towards Palestinian freedom and Judaism beyond Zionism. With roughly 750,000 members, supporters, and participants in the last year, JVP is the largest such organization in the world. The Academic Council is a network of scholars within JVP with a shared commitment to JVP’s core values.

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