A tenured professor at Portland State University is alleging the institution has unlawfully discriminated and retaliated against her for nearly a year.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in state court, stems from professor Yasmeen Hanoosh’s involvement in a pro-Palestine protest that took place off campus last June. A video clip of that protest showed Hanoosh telling a counter protester, “I am Hamas. We are all Hamas,” as she gestured to others around her.

The clip was edited in a way that appeared to show the professor in support of the armed militant group Hamas.

After the video spread online, PSU responded by placing Hanoosh on paid administrative leave and conducting an internal investigation of the professor’s actions. Portland State President Ann Cudd publicly condemned the video in a university blog post, calling it “reprehensible.”

In a tort claim filed in December, Hanoosh’s lawyers said that her comments were taken out of context, sarcastic in nature and protected under free speech law. And they said Hanoosh feared for her own safety after facing online harassment and threats.

A lawsuit filed Wednesday goes a step further.

The suit, filed in a Multnomah County Circuit Court, says the university “defamed [Hanoosh] by publicly and falsely portraying her as aligned with terrorism and antisemitic ideology, and by making additional false and misleading statements about the nature and context of her speech.”

Hanoosh is seeking $7 million in damages from the university for discrimination, retaliation, a hostile work environment, violations of free speech and equal protection laws and defamation. She is also seeking the removal and correction of any public statements made by PSU regarding her participation in last year’s protest.

A PSU spokesperson said the university cannot comment on the litigation.

The war in Gaza sparked mass student protests at colleges across the U.S. in 2024, including at Portland State. Those demonstrations caused many institutions to revise their free speech policies.

The Trump administration has used the protests, combined with allegations of rampant antisemitism on college campuses, as a tool to punish universities and cut off federal funding.

Portland State is currently under two civil rights investigations from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. One alleges the university failed to protect students from an Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian incident in 2024. The other, brought forth by the federal government, argues the opposite: that PSU allowed antisemitism to flourish on campus.

Hanoosh has taught in PSU’s World Languages and Literatures department since 2010, leading the school’s Arabic studies programs. She was granted tenure in 2016.

The complaint describes several incidents that Hanoosh’s lawyers consider examples of retaliation and bias from Portland State over the past year, including the public statement from Cudd last year. The lawsuit says those comments falsely associate Hanoosh with antisemitism and hate rhetoric.

“We hear a lot about antisemitism, which certainly does exist. But we hear less about Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism,” said Ashlee Albies, a lawyer representing Hanoosh. “Part of what Dr. Hanoosh seeks to do is push back against Islamophobia, push back against anti-Arab racism, push back against the criminalization of Palestine solidarity.”

Hanoosh also learned last week that her tenured professor job is one of more than 50 positions that PSU has slated for elimination next year. PSU is targeting more than $1 million in budget reductions from the World Languages and Literatures department.

The suit takes issue with PSU’s investigation of last June’s incident too.

Hanoosh’s lawyers say the 10-month investigation took an unusually long time to complete. They say the university further perpetuated Middle Eastern stereotypes by framing her political views as antisemitic and failed to address areas of potential bias among colleagues in her own department.

The university’s report cleared Hanoosh of violating any Portland State policies, according to the complaint.

PSU’s policies note that the First Amendment protects speech, “no matter how offensive its content,” but that harassment, threats and incitement to violence are exceptions to free speech.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/05/21/portland-state-professor-lawsuit-7-million/