SJSU College of Social Sciences
Tenure history professor Jonathan Roth retires despite initially being on the Fall 2025 semester course offerings.
Suspended San José State professor abruptly retired despite having been initially scheduled to have courses in the fall.
Jonathan Roth worked at SJSU for 30 years as a history professor and was put on administrative leave in 2024 following allegations of assault during a demonstration in the Spring semester, according to a LA Times Feb. 26, 2024 article.
Michelle Smith McDonald, SJSU’s senior director of media relations, confirmed Roth’s decision to retire in an email to the Spartan Daily.
“I believe Professor Roth made the decision to retire,” Smith McDonald wrote.
The Spartan Daily reached out to Roth and his attorney, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
Roth, who was the recipient of the university’s 2019 Distinguished Service Award, was recorded grabbing the wrist of a community protestor.
On Feb. 19, 2024, students and community members protested the guest lecturer, Jeffrey Blutinger, who was set to speak publicly at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, about a two-state solution regarding the ongoing Israeli military operations in Gaza, according to a Feb. 21, 2024 KRON4 article.
The California State University Long Beach professor was later escorted out of the library to Sweeney Hall to conduct a closed lecture, where the protesters lined the hallways, according to a Feb. 26, 2024 Moment Magazine article.
In public documents obtained by the Spartan Daily, Roth recounted the incident during the investigation following the alleged assault.
“In any case, so what I did was, reflexively, I moved her (the alleged victim) hand,” Roth said to attorney investigator Morin Jacob. “Let me try to explain my motion, so I took my hand like this.”
Roth went on to describe the incident, saying he cupped the victim’s left hand, moving it to the side of her leg. He later went on to say he couldn’t imagine that the alleged victim suffered any injuries.
In the same documents the alleged victim, who has not identified herself publicly, recounted the pain she experienced from the altercation.
“I was explaining how I continued to feel weakness in my hand,” she said. “She said (doctor) that the muscle strain impacted from the hand all the way up to – it can go all the way to my shoulder.”
The organization California Scholars for Academic Freedom wrote an open letter on July 28 to SJSU administrators condemning Roth’s potential return.
In the letter, the organization mainly cited that suspended professor Sang Hea Kil is currently facing termination of her tenure, while Roth had been on the Fall 2025 course schedule, according to the letter.
Smith McDonald was unable to confirm why Roth was set to teach the courses, Historiography and Military History to 1500 for the Fall 2025 semester.
The Spartan Daily contacted the SJSU History Department for a comment regarding the matter but did not receive a response in time publication.
“I am unable to answer the question because it pertains to a personnel action that is protected by employment law,” Smith McDonald wrote in an email to the Spartan Daily.