UCSF professor fired for antisemitism files lawsuit over violation of free speech rights
She also alleged that her dismissal came as a result of "pressure from pro-Israel forces and political allies like Senator Scott Wiener and billionaire donors such as the Diller family."
A University of California at San Francisco professor who was fired over her antisemitic comments is suing her former employers for what she claims was violation of her free-speech rights.
Dr. Rupa Marya, an Indian-American professor at UCSF Medical School for 22 years, allegedly began routinely posting antisemitic content on social media during the Israel-Hamas War. According to her colleagues, some of her posts attacked Jewish and Israeli colleagues and students.
This led to Marya being fired in May, according to her lawyers.
She filed a federal lawsuit against UCSF this week in which she alleged that the university “infringed her First Amendment right of free speech, both as to statements she made as a private citizen and others in the course of her duties.”
She claimed that “neither her views nor her posts are antisemitic,” and that she has merely intended to challenge Israeli state policy.
The language of the complaint nevertheless presents Israel as the sole aggressor, referring to the war as “Israel’s war of annihilation in Gaza,” and makes no mention of Hamas or any suffering on the Israeli side.
Marya claims racism played into her dismissal
In a radio appearance this Wednesday, Marya framed her dismissal as “part of a broader crackdown on dissent in academia, especially targeting women of color.”“As a Sikh woman it is my obligation to speak up when vulnerable people are being harmed,” she said. “It is written into my DNA.”
Marya also alleged that her dismissal had come as a result of “pressure from pro-Israel forces and political allies like [California State] Senator Scott Wiener and billionaire donors such as the Diller family.”
One strange element of the lawsuit is the discussion of an Israeli medical student who the lawsuit claims was fabricated.
“In August and September, several UCSF medical students approached Dr. Marya and shared that they were concerned for their safety around a new classmate who told them had just come from Israel,” the lawsuit says. “Because of the mandatory military service there and the fact that Israel allows non-citizens to serve in its military, the students were concerned that this person may have been directly involved in the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people... Remarkably, there is now no record of a first-year medical student who had just come from Israel, leaving those involved to wonder whether this entire contretemps had been manufactured.”
The adds that “although the student may have been fabricated, the fears about the student were objectively reasonable.”
Run-up to Marya's firing
On January 2, Marya posted on social media about “how Zionism as an ideology of supremacy in medicine impacts health and healthcare access for people of color.”She also shared a post that claimed Zionist doctors and nurses were a danger to patients. The post was shared by Wiener, who outed it as antisemitic, sharing her employer in his tweet.
Subsequently, on January 7, UCSF released a statement across social media sites, claiming “a tired and familiar racist conspiracy theory has circulated on social media in recent days stating that ‘Zionist’ doctors are a threat to Arab, Palestinian, South Asian, Muslim and Black patients.”
“Both Jewish and non-Jewish people see the use of the word ‘Zionist’ in this debunked narrative as an antisemitic attack,” UCSF wrote, adding that it “renounced” the “racist” and “intellectually bankrupt” trope. It did not, however, name Marya directly.
Marya then released a Substack post, saying that while she had not been named, “the inference was clear, as was the intention, to silence and discredit [her].” She also claimed her words had been “misrepresented.”
Marya then proceeded to attack her UCSF colleague Abraham Kanal, who had petitioned in June 2024 against a proposed ceasefire statement through the Antiracism Task Force in the Division of Hospital Medicine.
Marya claimed his email, stating that “imposing ceasefire at this moment – even with the possibility of every living hostage returned – disproportionately empowers Hamas and incentivizes kidnapping for ransom,” was an expression of anti-Arab hate.
Kanal told The New York Times he was shocked that a colleague with whom he had never spoken had blasted him publicly. He complained to UCSF’s Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination, which told him that Marya’s speech was protected.
Rick Sheinfield, a Jewish lawyer who has been a UCSF patient for 30 years, also filed a complaint against Marya in January 2024. It was later closed.
