What happened May 4, 1970, is as relevant as ever, according to employees at the May 4 Visitors Center and university experts.

Decades ago on The Commons by Taylor Hall, four Kent State students were killed and nine were wounded in 13 seconds, as members of the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of demonstrators protesting against the expansion of the Vietnam War into Cambodia. 

Between 61 and 67 shots were fired . The event sparked a nationwide strike that forced hundreds of universities to close and caused demonstrations across the nation.

“As an eye witness and survivor of the Kent State shootings, and sister to wounded student Alan Canfora, I made a life long commitment 54 years ago to making sure the world never forgets what happened here,” said Roseann “Chic” Canfora, chair of the May 4 Presidential Advisory Committee and the May 4 Commemoration Committee. “It was on May 4, 1970, at Kent State that our constitutional right to dissent was put to one of its greatest tests — and our democracy showed just how fragile it was. The fact that American soldiers would use high powered military weapons to silence the voices of their fellow Americans should both interest students and alarm them, not just make them care.” 

Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer and William Schroeder were killed. Alan Canfora, John Cleary, Thomas Grace, Dean Kahler, Joseph Lewis, Donald Mackenzie, James Russell, Robert Stamps and Douglas Wrentmore were wounded.

Sophomore career and community studies major Kevin Pflederer, an employee at the May 4 Visitors Center, said May 4 still remains a significant historical event.

“[May 4] needs to be recognized as a whole in the community and as a college,” Pflederer said.

May 4 exemplifies an attack on free speech and the first amendment in the United States, Canfora said, and it encourages those to speak up against what they find unjust even today. 

There has been a surge in the younger generations’ participation in protests and activism, with students at the forefront, according to a March 2024 report conducted by UNICEF.

Kent State’s legacy of student activism continues into the 21st century. Over the past spring semester, students have used their voices to protest and hold vigils for the continuing Israel-Hamas war. Hundreds of people around the area protested conservative, gun-rights-activist Kyle Rittenhouse’s visit to campus April 16, holding signs and chanting. 

Students continue to exercise their first amendment rights as they write pro-life and pro-choice statements, along with other political-leaning messages, in chalk on the cement by Risman Plaza. Many take to social media to post about their beliefs. 

Freshman computer science major Brandon Renner, an employee at the May 4 Visitors Center, said college gives students the opportunity to find other like-minded students and come together as one student body.

“This is a time where a lot of us are introduced to new ideas and this is a place where a lot of us will get the ability to come together,” Renner said. “It’s easier in a way to find people and have a unified voice.”

Junior environmental studies major Aphelion Schoemer, an employee at the May 4 Visitors Center, said gathering gives students an opportunity to use their rights and helps them not forget the demonstrators who came before them.

“If you want to actively make the world a better place for everyone, you have to use your voice and you have to speak up,” Schoemer said. “Someone wrote ‘History doesn’t repeat itself but it rhymes’ [for why they believe May 4 is important], and I think that’s very true. Learning about the past and seeing what’s happening now in the United States with all of the things that are happening — students need to know their rights and that they are allowed to protest.”

Emphasizing the importance of practicing people’s First Amendment rights, May 4 Visitors Center Director Allison Caplan encouraged students to get out there, get involved and be politically active.

“May 4 is as relevant as ever,” Caplan said. “Students at Kent State need to know about the history of what happened here, but they also need to be able to apply it to what is happening in the world today and apply it to their own personal experiences.”

Event line-up for 54th Commemoration of May 4 (tickets required for all planned indoor events)

Thursday, May 2

Civic Engagement for Peaceful Change: May 4, Social Justice and Nonviolent Action: 9 a.m. at The Student Center. 

The conference, open to K-12 teachers, students and Kent State faculty and staff, will focus on the history of Kent State’s student activism and engage with topics on civic engagement.

Discussion with Tom Grace and Daniel Frick: 5 p.m. at May 4 Visitor Center

The May 4 Task Force presents Tom Grace, a shooting survivor from May 4, 1970, and Daniel Frick, a professor at Franklin & Marshall College and author of “Reinventing Richard Nixon: A Cultural History of an American Obsession” who discuss former President Richard Nixon’s relationship to May 4 and his influence.

Friday, May 3

Jerry M. Lewis May 4 Lecture Series: 11:30 a.m. at The Student Center Ballroom.

At the lecture and luncheon, Chris Post, a professor in the Department of Geography, will present “Developing and Interpreting the Wounded Student Markers at Kent State.” 

Voices of Democracy: 3 p.m. at The Student Center Ballroom 

Author Lawrence Roberts will talk about his book “Mayday 1971: A White House at War, a Revolt on the Streets, and the Untold History of America’s Biggest Mass Arrest.” His book details the protests of Mayday 1971 in Washington, D.C., where the largest mass arrest occurred in the span of three days due to groups protesting the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War.   

The Power of Our Voices: Remembering the Gwangju Uprising: 5 p.m. at The Student Center Ballroom 

Faculty from the School of Peace and Conflict Studies and from Chonnam National University will discuss the Gwangju Uprising, which occurred in 1980 in South Korea. During the uprising, students from Chonnam National University protested president Chun Doo-hwan, who illegally took over after the previous president was assassinated, and his implementation of martial law. The students and hundreds, at least, of other demonstrators were killed and violently treated by the country’s military.

Harvest, The Ultimate Neil Young Tribute, hits The Kent Stage: 7:30 p.m. (doors open at 6:30 p.m.) at 175 E. Main Street

Neil Young, who belonged to the folk-rock group Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, among other groups, wrote the protest song “Ohio” after the May 4 shootings at Kent State. Harvest has performed at the May 4 Commemoration Ceremony. 

Candlelight Walk and Vigil: 11 p.m. at the Prentice Hall parking lot

The one-hour walk goes along part of campus. People will stand by the four markers where Krause, Miller, Scheuer and Schroeder were shot and killed in the now Prentice Hall parking lot for 30-minute increments from midnight to 12:23 p.m. May 4.  

Saturday, May 4

May 4 Commemoration: Noon (with music beginning at 11 a.m.) on The Commons. (Rain location: The Student Center Ballroom)

Hundreds will gather on the Kent State Commons by Taylor Hall to commemorate when gunfire killed four students and wounded nine 54 years ago. The Kent Chorale will perform, students and administrators will speak and the victory bell will ring. There will be a moment of silence for when the shootings occurred at 12:24. 

For the latest information about the events planned visit www.kent.edu/may4. 

Lauren Bischof is a beat reporter. Contact her at [email protected].