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St. Xavier professor suspended for e-mail to cadet
November 18, 2002
Chicago Sun-Times
BY BRYAN SMITH STAFF REPORTER

A St. Xavier University professor who called an Air Force cadet a "disgrace to this country" and a "baby-killer" has been suspended from teaching for the rest of the semester and his academic and teaching record will be reviewed, the university said.

Peter Kirstein, a tenured history and political science professor, already had apologized for sending a disparaging e-mail message to the cadet, who had been seeking help with advertising a political-science assembly.

But university President Richard A. Yanikoski said Sunday night that further discipline was appropriate and necessary. "He seemed quite literally to go off the deep end," Yanikoski said. "It is regrettable he said what he did."

Kirstein could not be reached for comment Sunday night.

In determining the punishment, which also includes an administrative reprimand and an addendum in Kirstein's contract that he abide by university policies, Yanikoski said he had to weigh the outrage of veterans with the right to express alternative views.

Still, there is no question that the language used by Kirstein, who has taught nearly 30 years at the school, was completely inappropriate and intolerable, Yanikoski said. The e-mail made its way onto the Internet, sparking angry responses from all over the world.

Yanikoski said he has personally responded to hundreds of e-mails--as well as some supporting the right to express opinions opposing the military.

"In the end everybody lost more than they should have," Yanikoski said. Kirstein "will be a changed man. The various sanctions I imposed will increase the odds that will happen."

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