Warren also said the university is cooperating with the FBI investigation and that there is no current threat to the campus.We find Prof. Pino’s comments reprehensible & counter to our core values. He does not speak on behalf of @KentState. https://t.co/aKrArapaXX
— Beverly Warren (@BevWarren19) January 20, 2016
KENT, Ohio -- The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are investigating a Kent State associate history professor for his alleged connection to ISIS, according to KentWired, the official student newspaper of Kent State University.
Julio Pino has been under investigation by a joint terrorism task force for the past 18 months, an FBI special agent told the paper.
Several faculty members and over 20 students were questioned Tuesday about Pino's alleged activity, the agent said.
The investigation hopes to ascertain whether Pino was allegedly attempting to recruit students to join ISIS.
"Kent State is fully cooperating with the FBI," Kent State spokesman Eric Mansfield told WKYC Channel 3 News.
"As this is an ongoing investigation, we will have no further comment," said Mansfield. "The FBI has assured Kent State that there is no threat to campus.”
Throughout the past two decades of Pino's academic career, he made headlines because of his political beliefs, particularly in lauding terrorism and criticizing Israel and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East
In 2002, Pino wrote a eulogy celebrating the life of an 18-year-old suicide bomber in the Kent Stater.
In 2005 and 2006, he wrote letters to the paper to criticize American policy in the Middle East.
In 2009, the Secret Service interviewed Pino about his beliefs.
In 2011, he shouted “Death to Israel!” at a public lecture by a former Israeli diplomat. and in 2014, he blamed colleagues for causing the deaths of 1,400 Palestinians.
Responding to some of the allegations, university president Beverly Warren took to social media, calling Pino’s comments “reprehensible & counter to our core values.”
