Today marks a significant day in our members’ fight to protect academic freedom in the CSU system.

An arbitrator has ruled that CFA member and San José State (SJSU) professor Dr. Sang Hea Kil—who was facing termination for her involvement in pro-Palestinian activism and student protests—should be put back to work rather than face termination from her tenured position of Full Professor. The arbitrator determined that the imposed sanction was excessive and should be reduced from termination to a one-month unpaid suspension. This decision comes after a Faculty Hearing Committee (FHC), made up of faculty who had no personal stake in the issues, also determined that no discipline was warranted. 

For almost two years, CFA has represented Dr. Kil in her fight for justice—in preliminary investigative meetings, by appealing to the FHC, and in representing Dr. Kil in arbitration after the SJSU President refused to agree with FHC. The arbitrator’s decision to impose any sanction was due to interference with another faculty member’s delivery of a lecture that Dr. Kil and others found objectionable and Dr. Kil’s misadvising students about a rule she could or should have known about.

CFA is committed to academic freedom for all faculty, and we could not let such an administrative overreach go unchallenged. Dr. Kil has been a staunch advocate for her students’ fight against the genocide in Gaza. She has fiercely defended her students’ right to speak freely on these issues and has herself been critical of right-wing interests interfering with constitutional rights and academic freedom across the nation.

Back in November 2025, the FHC determined that SJSU’s decision to fire Dr. Kil was not justified, stating that her actions were in no way egregious enough to warrant such a dismissal. Incredibly, the SJSU President disagreed, requiring Dr. Kil and CFA to go to arbitration to challenge the interference of academic freedom and free speech and to challenge the lack of “just cause.” We have never seen such an overreach in punishing faculty, and that’s why we agreed without hesitation to represent Dr. Kill in the faculty committee and the arbitration. At arbitration, the CSU spent days putting on a horrible case, trying to dress up its suppression of free speech and academic freedom as irredeemable misconduct.

We have witnessed a disturbing pattern of faculty across the country, in California, Pennsylvania, Texas, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Washington, facing consequences for pro-Palestinian speech. The Trump administration has attempted to use accusations of antisemitism as cover to regulate our speech and silence dissent specifically to target progressive voices critical of the actions of Israel against Palestinians while ignoring right-wing forces of antisemitism and hate speech. Many institutions—including the CSU—have capitulated to Trump and adopted flawed “non-discrimination” policies to try and give the impression that they are committed to equity and inclusion.

In bargaining, we have proposed a new stand-alone article dedicated to academic freedom. This proposal includes stronger protections for faculty against censorship or retaliation that may arise from activities connected to research, scholarship, and creative endeavors.

Related to academic freedom, we fought the CSU over its compliance with anti-free speech/anti-education efforts and reached a settlement with CSU management over its disclosure of faculty’s personal information in response to a subpoena from the Trump Administration’s US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC had initiated a systemwide antisemitism complaint against the CSU, seeking to punish faculty who spoke out against Israel in particular.

We worked hard to secure several modifications over the Interim Time, Place, and Manner (TPM) policy. First we bargained, with some success. Even after reaching impasse over our disagreements, we were able to obtain further changes in the policy to protect faculty and the University community as a whole. Ultimately, we ended up in factfinding, and a neutral factfinder opined that several changes should still be made to the policy.

Finally, we are sponsoring Assembly Bill 2551, which would ensure that students have the right to fully participate in the educational process, free from discrimination and harassment. This bill intends to combat the chilling effects of the CSU Time, Place and Manner policy by establishing student hearings to receive feedback from students on the impact of TPM policies. The bill would also require the collection of demographic data about students who allegedly violated the TPM policy.

Given the attacks on academic freedom that are happening within the CSU and on campuses all over the country, we will continue the fight to protect faculty’s rights to express dissenting views, and to encourage students to think critically as a part of the educational experience. CFA and our members have been fierce defenders of academic freedom and free speech. A flourishing democracy relies on our ability to challenge the status quo and narratives we disagree with, and public higher education serves as a cornerstone for these dialogues.

Our work on this issue is far from over. We will continue our fight by representing our members when met with attacks by administration, and we are also being proactive by fighting and organizing for academic freedom at the bargaining table, with our legislators, and in the press.

We must continue to be vigilant on these issues, because it will not be the last time management tries to suppress what we say and how we act.

In solidarity,

Margarita Berta-Ávila
President, California Faculty Association
Professor of Education, College of Education
Sacramento State University

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