Kent State Professor Under Investigation for Allegedly Recruiting Students to ISIS

A tenured associate professor of history at Kent State University in Ohio is under investigation for potential ties to ISIS. From KentWired:

The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are investigating Julio Pino, a Kent State associate history professor, for alleged involvement with the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIl.

A joint terrorism task force has been investigating Pino for the last year and a half, said an FBI special agent who did not wish to be named for safety reasons…

…The agent said they interviewed several faculty members and more than 20 of Pino’s students Tuesday about his alleged involvement. He is also being investigated for allegedly recruiting students to join ISIS.

The agent said there is “no direct threat” to the university.

Pino, who is teaching two classes this semester at Kent, told KentWired on Tuesday that he has not been notified of an investigation by either the FBI or Homeland Security, nor has he been contacted by them.

“From a legal standpoint, I’m not aware that they’re going after me or charging me with anything,” he said. “I’m not aware of any kind of criminal investigation or charges or anything of that sort.”

In the interview Pino said all of his activities are legal and that he has never discussed the Islamic State in his classes.

Asked if he would say he’s a supporter of the Islamic State Pino answered, “No, I would not say that.”

“I have not violated any U.S. laws that I’m aware of—that anyone has told me.”

Despite Pino’s protestations, a series of entries on social media last fall seemed to indicate that he is, indeed, an Islamic State sympathizer. In November I wrote about Pino’s frightening Facebook posts declaring his solidarity with ISIS, along with posts displaying open anti-Semitism:

In what seems to be an escalation of his previous public comments, tenured Kent State University professor Julio Pino is using his personal Facebook page not only to post anti-Semitic epithets and threats, but also to declare his solidarity with the terrorist group ISIS.

In August, we saw the incendiary, anti-Semitic Facebook posts by Pino, the Cuban-born associate history professor who converted to Islam in 2000. Dr. Pino’s posts supported Hamas, made vile, racist comments about Jews and Israelis, and even seemed to support ISIS. Pino, who has a long history of anti-Semitic behavior, also vowed that he wouldn’t work with fellow staff members who supported Israel: “Collaborate with no one who collaborates with Israel, and let her or him know why. I have started with the head of our ‘Religious Studies’ program, who sends student-dupes to Israel every year.” Pino remains employed by the taxpayer-supported university and it seems he has been emboldened by the cover Kent State is providing for him.

In a post this week, he declared, “We will wage jihad from al-Quds to Canada!” Pino posted this comment, along with a video from Russia Today (the state-funded news outlet) showing allegedly “uncut” footage of the “bloody caliphate” in Iraq.

In another post with a link to a YouTube video warning of a possible Islamic State attack in New York City, Pino calls a Canadian jihadist his brother: “Canadian Brother from ISIS ‘We love being attacked! We seek martyrdom!'”

In August I wrote about Pino’s history of radical views and actions:

Kent State University associate professor of history Julio Pino is well known for his anti-Semitic, jihad-supporting views. In 2002 the Cuban-born convert to Islam wrote a poem published in the Kent Stater that praised a female suicide bomber in Israel, saying her actions should be “pronounced ‘justice’ and spelled C-O-U-R-A-G-E.” In 2007, at the same time he was on the payroll of Ohio taxpayers as a tenured professor, he was also writing for Global War, a now defunct blog that supported violent global jihad. In 2011, Pino made news after he shouted “Death to Israel” when an Israeli diplomat spoke at a campus event sponsored by the Jewish Hillel organization.

In early August of this year, Pino wrote an open letter to his fellow academics who support Israel, holding them “directly responsible for the murder of over 1,400 Palestinian children, women and elderly civilians over the past month.” Pino said, “Your names are scrawled on every bullet fired, bomb dropped, body buried and burnt forehead in Gaza. May your names become a curse word on the lips of every justice-loving person on earth, along with ‘Obama’ and ‘Netanyahu.'” He accused his fellow academics of being fascist collaborators and ended with a veiled threat saying, “We both know the fate of collaborators.” Pino signed the letter with a Che Guevara slogan: “Hasta la victoria siempre!” (“Until Victory, Always!”), and added, “Jihad until victory!”

I also wrote about how Pino bragged on Facebook about recruiting young jihadis at the local gym:

“Last night at the gym this kid, no more than ten years old, comes up to me and asks, ‘Are you Mr. Pino?’ and when I replied in the affirmative he said, ‘I support what you do. We should not be on the side of Israel.’ Now I know the revolution is safe into the next generation,” Pino wrote last month.

A Facebook friend named Adeela Islam commented, “The gym is exactly where Julio train, discipline, and prepare the new generation in all round fitness. Isn’t is so, Julio?”

“Your local gym is a great place to train for Jihad,” Pino responded.

And in case anyone thinks Pino’s version of jihad is that benign-sounding “striving” or “struggle” that moderate Muslims like to talk about, there’s this:

“Find a representative of gluttony or oppression and blow the motherfu**er’s head off”

So, it should come as no surprise that he is also allegedly recruiting Kent State students to ISIS. Note that:

The average Kent State associate professor salary is $80,132, plus another $25,000 in benefits, a percentage of that funded by taxpayers. Despite Pino’s increasingly erratic and threatening behavior, the university has taken no disciplinary action against him, other than to offer a toothless condemnation.

Kent State spokesman Eric Mansfield told Fox 8 Cleveland that “Kent State is fully cooperating with the FBI. As this is an ongoing investigation, we will have no further comment.” Mansfield added, “The FBI has assured Kent State that there is no threat to campus.”

No word from Ohio Governor John Kasich on why Ohio allows professors at state-funded universities to use their tenured faculty positions to promote ISIS and radical anti-Semitism. How far do these guy have to actually go before we can kick them off the public dole? (Don’t answer that…it’s too frightening to contemplate.)