A UCSF Student Advocate Spoke Up for Faculty of Color. Then She Was Fired

Editor’s Note: Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to the university that suspended 22 students for establishing an encampment to protest the Israel-Hamas war. It was the University of San Francisco, not UC San Francisco.  

Denise Caramagno has worked as a violence prevention advocate at UC San Francisco for almost a decade. Last month, she received an email notifying her of the university’s intent to fire her.

“UCSF hired me to support people who experienced different kinds of violence and harm. And part of my job was prevention of violence,” she said during a protest outside of the university’s campus on Friday. “I saw my colleagues being silenced as they spoke about genocide in Gaza. I spoke out. I felt a professional obligation to do so.

“I think they’re firing me for doing the job they hired me to do.”

Most Bay Area universities are back in session for the fall semester, and with the return of classes comes the return of student organizers whose mass demonstrations and encampments rocked campuses across the country in the spring, including at UCSF.

In January, Rupa Marya, a UCSF professor of internal medicine, wrote a series of posts on X that claimed the “presence of Zionism” in U.S. medicine should be examined as a “structural impediment to health equity.” The posts sparked backlash, including from state Sen. Scott Weiner, who wrote that the posts played into an antisemitic trope accusing Jewish doctors of harm.

Days later, UCSF released a statement, without reference to Mayra or her posts, that said a “conspiracy theory” circulating on social media was “stating that ‘Zionist’ doctors are a threat to Arab, Palestinian, South Asian, Muslim and Black patients.”

“This sweeping, baseless and racist generalization must be condemned,” the statement continued.

Caramagno responded on social media, writing that UCSF was “coordinating an attack on its own faculty of color who are asking legitimate questions about social determinants of health.”

She said her post led to complaints from staff, which were sent to her. Initially, she was told that she hadn’t violated any policies, but after forwarding one complaint to colleagues, she was notified that she wasn’t allowed to share the complaint against her. In August, she received an email that the university intended to terminate her.

“I’m being fired for speaking out in support of my Black and brown colleagues who are experts in health disparities,” she said Friday.

In a statement responding to claims by Caramagno that she was being fired for doing her job, UCSF said,

“Privacy laws prevent us from commenting on any specific individual or situation. However, what is being discussed on social media is factually inaccurate.”

The university still employs Marya. She said that for more than 20 years, she has advocated for communities of color, including during the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as for immigrant patients, women and LGBTQ communities.

“I’ve never come up against the kind of repression and, specifically, racist repression that I’ve seen and experienced since I’ve said ‘stop bombing hospitals,’” she said.

Throughout the protest, which was attended by about 100 doctors, nurses, students and staff, Caramagno stood on the sidewalk just off campus grounds. She has not been allowed to enter since the university initiated a formal investigation about a month ago.

Her official termination date was Aug. 29, but the process has not officially ended, according to Caramagno, who said she has an upcoming hearing. She told KQED that she was not allowed to contact any of her roughly 30 active clients.

“I’m not sure how they’re being supported, and I feel genuine concern for the people who need support,” Caramagno said.

KQED’s Juan Carlos Lara contributed to this story.