SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) — Dr. Rupa Marya, a physician and professor at the University of California, San Francisco, has filed a federal lawsuit against the university, claiming it violated her First Amendment rights by suspending and ultimately firing her over social media posts criticizing Israel’s war in Gaza and Zionism.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court, alleges that UCSF retaliated against Marya for political speech protected under the U.S. Constitution. Her online posts expressed solidarity with healthcare workers in Gaza and condemned Zionism as a “supremacist, racist ideology,” according to the complaint. Marya contends her comments targeted political ideologies, not ethnic or religious groups.

“As a medical doctor, American citizen, and a person of South Asian descent raised in the Sikh religious tradition, Dr. Marya has long been concerned about American foreign policy, including in the Middle East,” the complaint states. “Her posts aim for state policy and supremacist political ideologies, not at any religious or ethnic group”.

Marya, who completed her internal medicine residency at UCSF in 2007 and joined its faculty soon after, was placed on administrative leave in September 2024. Her clinical privileges were suspended on Oct. 1, 2024, after the UCSF Executive Medical Board labeled her a “possible imminent danger,” citing her social media activity. The board later reinstated those privileges on Oct. 15.

Despite requesting a hearing, which her attorney says she was entitled to, Marya was terminated from her position in May 2025. Her attorney, Mark Kleiman, condemned the university’s actions, calling them a direct threat to academic freedom and civic engagement.

“Firing Dr. Marya not only violates her right to free speech — it threatens all of us,” Kleiman said in a public statement. “We expect the court will agree that Dr. Marya’s rights have been violated and must be remedied.”

The controversy surrounding Marya’s posts intensified in early 2024. A viral thread she posted on X in January prompted UCSF to issue a public statement debunking what it called a circulating “conspiracy theory.” Although the university did not name her in the statement, Dr. Robert Wachter, Chair of UCSF’s Department of Medicine, acknowledged in an internal email that the response was directed at Marya’s post.

Court filings also detail the personal toll Marya has suffered. She reportedly received “rape and death threats” as well as sustained online harassment in response to her public positions.

A UCSF spokesperson declined to comment on the case, citing privacy laws.

Before her suspension, Marya had not taught classes for five years, focusing solely on patient care within UCSF’s non-teaching hospital medicine services. In addition to her academic and clinical work, she was appointed in 2021 by Gov. Gavin Newsom to California’s “Healthy California for All Commission,” which explores models for universal healthcare.

Beyond medicine, Marya is widely recognized for her activism and music. She leads the band Rupa & the April Fishes, whose albums have tackled immigration, surveillance, and health inequity. Her 2008 debut, Extraordinary Rendition, addressed post-9/11 policies, while Este Mundo (2009) focused on the experiences of undocumented immigrants.

Born in California to Indian immigrant parents, Marya grew up in the U.S., France, and India. She studied molecular biology and theater at UC San Diego before earning her medical degree from Georgetown University. Her interdisciplinary approach blends art, medicine, and social justice — a perspective she says informed both her clinical practice and public advocacy.

Marya’s case joins a growing list of legal challenges nationwide over the boundaries of academic speech and institutional discipline, particularly surrounding the ongoing war in Gaza. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 52,000 people have died in the territory since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas militants killed approximately 1,200 people in Israel and took 251 hostages.

The federal court has yet to set a hearing date for Marya’s lawsuit.