Sang Hea Kil, a reinstated professor at San José State University, announced a $10 million lawsuit against SJSU on June 30.
The announcement of the suit came during a community press conference, in which Kil alleged the university of discrimination and a violation of her First Amendment rights.
Kil, a professor in the justice studies department at SJSU, said at the community press conference that the arbitrator found her punishment excessive, while continuing to announce her lawsuit.
“This is an incredible victory for free speech, academic freedom, student protest, freedom of assembly and pro-Palestine speech on campus and beyond,” Kil said.
The lawsuit, filed in late May, includes the names of several SJSU administrative members as defendants, including President Cynthia Teniente-Matson, Provost Vincent J. Del Casino Jr. and interim Senior Associate Vice President Jeanne Durr.
The suit claims that the administrative members had been “determined to silence and punish Dr. Kil.”
“Despite defendants’ increasingly aggressive attempts to intimidate her, Dr. Kil continued to speak out in support of her beliefs. Defendants terminated Dr. Kil in response,” the suit reads.
Kil has said that she believes she is the first full-time tenured professor in a public U.S. university to be fired for her pro-Palestinian advocacy.
A July 2 press release by Kil’s legal team, Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai LLP, assisting in the suit, states the California State University (CSU) and SJSU allegedly violated Kil’s rights. This includes the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the First Amendment.
“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,” the suit reads.
On June 22, a California Faculty Association press release stated that SJSU was ordered to reinstate Sang Hea Kil after a five-day arbitration period and determined she was wrongfully terminated for her actions related to pro-Palestinian activism after a two-year process between the university and Kil.
In the initial hearing for Kil’s dismissal and possible termination for fall of 2025, Susan Westover, the assistant vice chancellor and chief counsel, litigation at the CSU Office of General Counsel, argued for Kil’s termination on behalf of SJSU, according to an Oct, 29, 2025 Spartan Daily article.
Claims at the time of the hearing said that Kil had breached several CSU and SJSU codes of conduct and policies during spring 2024, the same source reads.
Sean Allen, president of the San José Silicon Valley chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), said Kil did not assault or threaten anyone but rather uplifted voices.
“This case was never just about one professor; it was about whether a public university can punish people, especially people of color, queer people and muslim faculty and students for speaking out on matters of conscience,” Allen said. “This is not an isolated case. NAACP has received multiple complaints across Santa Clara County.”
NAACP is an advocacy organization focused on civil rights and social justice for people of color, with a heightened focus on Black Americans, according to its website.
A letter addressed to SJSU administrators by the San José Silicon Valley NAACP on May 16, in support of Kill, demanded her reinstatement while denouncing the claim that she had launched demonstrations in support of her own beliefs.
The letter also acknowledged the use of sprinkler systems during the May 2024 encampments at SJSU, stating that it may constitute violations of California codes.
“During the first night of the encampment, SJSU activated the campus sprinkler system drenching Professor Kil, a colleague and student demonstrators with non-potable ‘purple pipe’ water … The administration had pre-announced by megaphone that the sprinklers would be activated at 10:30 p.m. eliminating any claim of accident.”
Purple pipe water is recycled water used for a variety of industrial, irrigational and agricultural needs, according to a July 25, 2019 Silicon Valley Water article.
In a previous interview with the Spartan Daily, Kil claimed that the university was using “dirty water tactics,” endangering students by exposing them to unsafe water, according to a May 16, 2024 Spartan Daily article.
Michelle Smith McDonald, senior director of media relations for SJSU, said administrative members attempted to pause the sprinkler systems but were unable to do so in time, the same article reads.
Amith Gupta, the California statewide legal manager for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said community members have the right to speak out against warfare and international affairs.
“The fact is, that is a fundamental right, yet SJSU decided that that right should be erased when it comes to professors and faculty and students that speak out, and we made it clear that that is not true, and we will fight back,” Gupta said.
The NAACP and CAIR were just some of the groups that supported Kil during the community press conference. At the same time, other members of Silicon Valley and Santa Clara County-centered organizations spoke.
Other organizations in attendance included Jewish Voice for Peace, Silicon Valley De-Bug and the San José Peace and Justice Center.
