San José State professor fired over Gaza protest controversy to be reinstated

An arbitrator ruled this week that a San José State University professor who was terminated after controversy over his role in college protests related to the Gaza war two years ago must be reinstated as a tenured professor, according to Cal State's faculty union.

The California Faculty Assn., a union that represents about 29,000 professors, lecturers, librarians, counselors and trainers, said in a written statement that an arbitrator found the termination of Sang Hea Kil, a professor of legal studies, excessive and should be reduced to a one-month suspension without pay.

Kil came under fire two years ago amid widespread protests over the war in Gaza after an October 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, a Palestinian militant group designated by the US as a terrorist group.

A spokesperson for San José State University said it could not comment on the ongoing personnel issue.

This week's decision, however, upholds a November 2025 decision by the Faculty Hearing Committee, an independent board that investigates and adjudicates disputes involving faculty members. The committee found that Kil's actions were not bad enough to warrant his dismissal by the university, according to the faculty union.

San José State University President Cynthia Teniente-Matson disagreed with the committee's decision, prompting the matter to go to arbitration, with the union seeking to challenge the interference with academic freedom, free speech and lack of “just cause.” It was unclear why Teniente-Matson disagreed with the committee's decision.

“We have never seen such extremes in punishing intelligence,” the union said in its statement. “That's why we agreed without hesitation that we will represent Dr.

Two years ago, university officials began investigating Kil for misconduct. They allege that he breached his duty and responsibility as a faculty member by directing and encouraging students to violate the university's policies governing free speech on campus and promoting diversity and equal opportunity.

He was notified of the investigation in an April 2024 letter. In the letter, university officials said he had participated in a February protest inside Sweeney Hall and had “behaved in ways that interfered with the business of the university and encouraged students to do the same.”

Two weeks after the letter was sent, he received an email from the vice president of student affairs accusing him of instructing students at the May 8 rally to ignore university policy and march on the university's recreational facilities. The email also accused Kil of instructing students to set up camp on the lawn.

“That never happened,” he said in a phone interview at the time. “I felt free to send him an email and say that I deny all these allegations because they are not based on any evidence or truth.”

Kil was placed on leave for 60 days while the university conducted its investigation.

The core of the university's allegations is that Kil violated the university's policy of “Freedom of Expression and Time, Place and Manner”, which places certain restrictions on free speech events held on university premises. Kil said at the time officials were not using the policy equally.

Cal State faculty union officials said the university's actions against Kil reflect similar actions against faculty members across the country who support Palestinian causes and express criticism of Israel.

The union said that prompted it to negotiate stronger protections for its members from censorship or retaliation that could arise from research, scholarship and creative endeavors.

Earlier this year, the union settled with the CSU program over the disclosure of faculty members' personal information in response to subpoenas from the Trump administration's US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The union said it supports state bill AB 2551, introduced by State Assemblymember Sade Elhawary (D-Los Angeles), which would require the Cal State system to include demographic information in its annual reports on student violations, including those related to time, place and method policies. It would also require public universities to set up committee hearings to get feedback on those policies.

In an emailed response to The Times, Kil said he and his attorneys plan to discuss this week's decision at a news conference Monday in Pasadena. The lawyers also plan to announce the filing of a lawsuit against the university.