Kent State University President Todd Diacon issued the following statement:
“At this moment in our nation’s history, now more than ever I call on Americans to embrace and practice our university’s core value of kindness and respect in all that we do. Democracy is both a mighty force and a fragile vessel that relies on a universally shared commitment to dialogue, understanding and the truth. We assert, and rightly so, that hate has no home at Kent State University. Hate and sedition likewise should have no home in the United States of America.
This morning the Brazilian television network O Globo opened its newscast with the following statement: Yesterday was the first attempted coup against democracy in the history of the United States of America. As a historian of Brazil, who taught Latin American history courses for more than two decades and who has written two books on the history of Brazil, I am familiar with assaults against democracy in Spanish and Portuguese-speaking nations, and regrettably I must agree with O Globo’s assessment.
Please join me in thanking our elected officials of both parties whose brave actions yesterday defended our democracy.”