The University of California San Francisco has moved to fire a veteran professional staffer after she made comments critical of the administration’s position on Palestine and Zionism.
Since 2015, Denise Caramagno has been an advocate and director of the school’s Campus Advocacy Resources and Education program for UCSF staff, faculty, and students facing sexual violence and discrimination.
She has been given an “intent to dismiss” notice—technically, according to a document obtained by 48hills, for sharing with her colleagues a complaint filed against her.
But step back, and you see the whole situation actually started months earlier, on Jan. 7, when Caramagno publicly supported Dr. Rupa Marya, a highly regarded professor of medicine at UCSF and best-selling author who has spent years talking about the impacts of racism and settler colonialism on health outcomes.
In a post on Substack, and a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter), Marya raised questions about how the views of doctors who support the state of Israel’s war in Gaza might impact the health outcomes of Arab, Muslim, or Palestinian patients. That’s consistent with what she has long studied and discussed—health disparities caused by dynamics of power. For example, she has shared medical research that show Black babies with white doctors don’t fare as well as Black babies who have Black doctors.
Marya clarified that she was talking about doctors who support the State of Israel’s policies in the West Bank and Gaza:
In its subtle form, it could impact the allocation of resources. In its obscene form, it could take the shape of physicians from the US going to Israel, serving in the IDF, participating in the genocide of Palestinians, then returning home to the US. What impact does that have on the care of brown, Arab, Muslim people here?
She also specifically stated she did not mean Jewish doctors. However, State Sen. Scott Wiener instantly twisted her comments and called out Marya on X , saying she was making antisemitic statements.
Marya’s response:
I write here and now to clarify my position for my community, to whom I am accountable and who deserve to understand my views. We are in a moment where substantive critique of the Israeli government and the Zionist ideology upon which it was founded is being cast as antisemitic. When I say Zionist ideology, I am referring to the ideology of supremacy, apartheid, and ethnonationalism we see in practice in Israel—not an identity nor Jewish people generally.
As my life’s work advancing health justice demands, I spoke up to bring attention to the extent of what was happening to Israel’s coordinated and catastrophic destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system. I never expected that my advocacy to stop bombing hospitals and my criticism of Israel for those actions would elicit harassing racist attacks against me. Much to my dismay, my own institution participated in the online harassment.
In an uncharacteristic move, UCSF published a counter across all its social media channels, which suggested that Marya was making antisemitic statements:
Caramagno made no comments at all about Israel or Zionism; she just published a post supporting Marya:
That led to a complaint from a colleague, who said that Caramagno was condoning antisemitism.
Her supervisor, Dr. Renée Navarro, vice chancellor of diversity and outreach, forwarded that complaint to her May 2.
In Navarro’s email, she told Caramagno that “several Jewish faculty have raised concerns about your ability to support their concerns regarding antisemitism because they do not see you as impartial.” As a result, Navarro told her employee that the CARE program was removed as a resource for those facing antisemitism.
The complaint described how her post could be considered supportive of antisemitism and indicated a conflict of interest in her work supporting people facing discrimination. The complainant questioned if Caramagno was “fit to offer psychological support to Jewish faculty and staff.” Caramagno and the complainant do not know each other personally.
Caramagno forwarded that email to some of her allies, and it made its way onto social media. That, according to a letter from Navarro, was the offense that justified termination:
On June 22, 2024, it was brought to my attention that a screen shot of the email that I shared with you in May 2024 was posted on social media. As a result, it was essential to investigate and identify the source of the confidential email that was leaked.
During an investigative hearing, Navarro notes:
I asked you if you had an understanding that this message was confidential, and you replied that you did not have that understanding. You stated that you thought it had to do with an accusation against you that was false and that it attacked you personally and professionally. You stated that things were said about you that were untrue and that you did not know the complainant. You added that the email was not encrypted or marked confidential and that you thought it was given to you as an example of the allegations made against you.
Still:
Based on a preponderance of the evidence, I find that you knew or reasonably should have known that you should not have shared a confidential complaint, and that you demonstrated exceptionally poor judgment by doing so.
Kristen Bole, a communications representative for UCSF, stated that she could not speak in detail on the situation due to privacy laws. Without elaborating, she did say that “what is being discussed on social media is not accurate.”
Marya declined to comment for this story. However, a public interest lawyer, Rachel Lederman, filed a request under the Public Records Act for communications related to retaliation against her, and got no response. She has now sued.
From Lederman, senior counsel with the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund and its Center for Protest Law and Litigation:
We are used to the University of California dragging its feet about producing public records, but we have never before had it completely ignore a request and its obligations under the California Public Records Act,We made the request for records related to the university’s retaliation against Dr. Marya for speaking out in support of Palestine in January, 2024. The university acknowledged receiving our request, and initially promised a response within eight weeks. But after eight weeks came and went, the university stopped answering any of our follow up communication and – seven months later – has still produced NO records at all. We had no choice but to sue to obtain the public documents we are entitled to under state law.
If all these exchanges sound dizzying, that’s because they are. The whirl of posts and complaints and threats lodged back and forth within the UCSF community is, on its surface, a mess. But the real world fallout is clear: recent months have seen a whittling away of the rights of those advocating for Palestinian lives, from new protest restrictions to a ban on political statements on UC homepages.
During the investigation, Caramagno said she was concerned mostly for her clients. It was a stressful experience, she told 48 Hills. She said worried the strain might compromise her ability to provide counseling.
“I’m a therapist. I have to show up for my clients and be absolutely present. I’m trying to compartmentalize what’s going on.”
Caramagno’s “notice of intent to terminate” included an immediate severance of communication with around 30 clients relying on her for confidential support. The university’s action leaves dozens of victims of sexual assault and harassment in limbo, doubling the caseload of Caramagno’s sole coworker in the already underfunded CARE program.
Caramagno is a 62-year-old white woman with a youthful face framed by long, gray hair. Though she doesn’t exactly consider herself an activist, she is known throughout UCSF campuses as a staunch advocate for marginalized people seeking support. A UCSF resident and former coworker of Caramagno’s, who requested anonymity, described her as “the epitome of ‘listening to understand.’”
“My life’s work has been anti-violence. During Black Lives Matter I spoke out publicly. During #MeToo I was on the news,” said Caramagno—all without a word from the university. “So, it’s so ironic that this is when they want me to shut up.”
As an advocate for people facing discrimination, Caramagno says she’s seen a number of Jewish and Arab clients alike who feel they are maligned for their vocal support of Palestine.
But, she said, most of them prefer to seek out understanding colleagues, shying away from the formal complaint process. “They’re not using the institutional resources because the institution has made their position clear,” she said. “If you’re on the side of the institution, then your voice is heard.”
No part of Navarro’s email indicated the need for confidentiality—and Caramagno shared it with colleagues she thought could provide advice on how to respond.
Confidentiality is the bedrock of Caramagno’s work as a supporter of those experiencing sexual and interpersonal violence—especially those dealing with restraining orders and Title IX complaints. Such an accusation could prevent her from finding future work and damage her professional reputation.
Dan Siegel, a renowned Oakland-based civil rights lawyer, took on Caramagno’s case as soon as she received the notice. For the past 50 years, Siegel has specialized in discrimination law. He currently has around 20 clients facing accusations related to Palestine advocacy, all of whom work in education. Several are UCSF faculty members.
Siegel said that Caramagno’s case “falls within a number of situations where we believe University of California San Francisco is misusing accusations of antisemitism to punish employees of all kinds for their pro-Palestine speech.”
“Someone there has decided that [Caramagno] can be a target, or that she should be a target—so she’s first,” said Siegel. He noted that a staffer like Caramagno had fewer protections than faculty, making her an easy mark.
Regarding the supposed confidentiality of the email Caramagno forwarded, an action which will likely lead to her firing, Siegel noted that “nobody told Denise this was a confidential email. The email didn’t say it was confidential, and her boss didn’t say it was confidential.”
Neither he nor Caramagno have been able to access any materials from the investigation.
Siegel acknowledged that leaders like Navarro face a difficult position. Since July, the university has been subject to a congressional investigation for “pervasive acts of antisemitic harassment.” If the Republican-led effort finds University of California-San Francisco’s response falls short, the institution will lose all federal funds, axing Medicare and Medicaid.
Throughout 2020 and the years following, Navarro was known for engaging in protests at UCSF, including a White Coats for Black Lives die-in. At a virtual town hall in May of 2020, she told viewers: “At UCSF, we seek to dismantle systemic racism and the impact of bias,” and that “change will not come if we remain silent. For in our silence, we are complicit to injustice.”
Though the university has opened investigations on multiple staffers vocally supporting Palestine, it’s unlikely they’ll go quietly.
“It’s genocide,” said Caramagno. “How can you be silent in the face of that?”
Griffin Jones is a freelance reporter in San Francisco. She has worked at Mission Local, SF Bay View and LA Review of Books.
