Kent State prof shouts 'Death to Israel' during diplomatic speach
KENT, Ohio -- The statement by a Kent State University professor who shouted "Death to Israel" during a speech by a former Israeli diplomatwas deplorable, according to the university president.
President Lester Lefton issued a statement saying Julio Pino had a right to pose a provocative question during the speech on campus Tuesday. But while it may have been Pino's right to shout "Death to Israel," the words are deplorable, Lefton wrote.
"We value critical thinking at this university and encourage students to engage with ideas that they find difficult or make them uncomfortable," the president wrote. " We hope that our faculty will always model how best to combine passion for one's position with respect for those with whom we disagree. Calling for the destruction of the state from which our guest comes (as do some of our students, faculty and community members) is a grotesque failure to model these values."
Pino, a tenured associate professor of history, made his statementas he left a lecture hall Tuesday night following an exchange with Ishmael Khaldi, former deputy consul general at the Israeli consulate in San Francisco.
Khaldi's speech, on his rise from a small Bedouin village to the Israeli Foreign Service, was sponsored by groups including the Undergraduate Student Government and Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting.
The lecture, attended by about 60 people, was fascinating, said Kevin Papp, executive director of the undergraduate student government.
"He spoke about his journey, his perspective on life and how you set your own destiny," Papp said Thursday.
The atmosphere became strained when Pino posed the first question after the speech and asked Khaldi how he and his government could justify providing aid to countries with blood money that came from the deaths of Palestinian children and babies, Papp said.
Khaldi tried to move on to another questioner but Pino made further comments against Israel then shouted "Death to Israel" as he left, said Papp, 21, a senior from Copley.
One person in the crowd shouted "Shame on you" as Pino left, Papp said. The confrontation did not come up during further questions or at a reception, he said.
Donald Hassler, chairman of the English department and a member of the Faculty Senate, said Thursday that Pino is very opinionated and has a right to his opinions.
"But he needs to speak with civility," Hassler said. "What he said was pretty hateful. He realizes that he lost control."
Pino could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
Pino was also caught up in a controversy in 2003 after writing a column in the Kent Stater, the campus newspaper,that explored the motives of a Palestinian suicide bomber. In 2007, he was cited on websites as being linked to an extremist Islamic website that espoused a holy war. Kent State officials at the time said the extremist site had no connection to Pino or to the university.
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