Chicago Tribune, November 10, 2002

St. Xavier apologizes over e-mail;
Professor called Air Force cadet 'disgrace' to U.S.

By Crystal Yednak, Tribune staff reporter.

St. Xavier University has issued an apology after one of its professors sent an e-mail to a U.S. Air Force Academy cadet describing him as a "disgrace to this country."

The e-mail message was widely forwarded, prompting military members and supporters to flood the Southwest Side university's mailbox with protests. The cadet had contacted Peter N. Kirstein by e-mail, looking for ideas on how to best advertise an academic forum being planned by the academy.

In his reply Oct. 31, the professor wrote: "I am furious you would even think I would support you and your aggressive baby-killing tactics."

His response was widely disseminated through military Web sites and networks, prompting hundreds of e-mails to the university.

Kirstein, who has taught at St. Xavier for 28 years, declined to comment Saturday and referred questions to university officials.

He also has issued an apology to the cadet, according to a letter posted on a university Web site.

"I did not mean to impugn his character," Kirstein wrote to the academy instructor in charge of the forum. "I should have written him in a more thoughtful and contemplative manner."

University President Richard Yanikoski said the e-mail was a rash response on the part of the professor. And he agreed with others that it was rude and unprofessional.

"A professor, based on a lifetime of his own research, is entitled to hold a pacifist viewpoint and is entitled to be critical of the military," Yanikoski said. "However, in holding to that view, or any view, professors are expected always to speak and write in a manner that is respectful of all people and opposing points of view."

Yanikoski said that the instructor in charge of the academy assembly had accepted Kirstein's apology and that the university plans to send at least one student to the event. The university is still considering whether to take disciplinary action against Kirstein, Yanikoski said.

As a possible war with Iraq looms, Yanikoski said he believes the current climate complicated the matter.

He received a number of e-mails that referred to the anti-war activities of the 1960s, he said.

"What they say to me is this is no time to let those soft-hearted college professors stop the military again like they tried to do in Vietnam," Yanikoski said. "This touched some broader, deep feeling that people have right now."

Kirstein, a professor who specializes in recent U.S. history, including the Cold War and Vietnam, was voted professor of the year by students in 1997.