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Campus "Unrest" demonstrations and consequences, 1970-1971

1971-11-12 American Report: Review of Religion and American Power Page 7

The Kent Story 
an eyewitness account 

by Jerry M. Lewis

Before May 4, the students and faculty of Kent State often described it as the largest unknown university in the country. Of Kent's 22,000 students, over 80 percent come from Ohio and 62 percent come from the University's home county, Portage, and its six adjacent counties. Until recently Kent was known as a suitcase college that closed down every weekend, but this had changed. Forty percent of the students now live on campus and many more in the surrounding student ghettoes. 
Kent State students tend to be first generation college from well off working class families. They work hard and have a tremendous commitment to getting a degree. A great many - 33 percent in a recent survey - say they want to be teachers. Their outlook, both socially and politically, is quite localist. I once asked a student from Youngstown, about 40 miles from Kent, why she had come so far from home to attend school; she actually started to explain her reasons. 
Of the five colleges in the university, Education is the largest. It has a national reputation and ranks in the top 10 in the country for producing teachers. The president of the University, Robert I White was formerly Dean of Education. White describes himself as a "Jeffersonian Liberal" and is respected by the faculty and, reputedly by the state Board of Regents. He is a slow decision maker and stays fairly invisible, communicating to the faculty primarily through weekly newsletters. 
The town of Kent is 11 miles east of Akron and about an hour's drive from Cleveland. The 31.500 residents (50,000 counting students) are mostly employed in local light industry. The downtown area consists of small shops, professional offices, banks, a couple of drug stores, and half a dozen bars. These bars, with live music and room to dance serve both K.S.U. students and youth from Kent and the surrounding area. They are clustered together on one street, and that is where the troubles started on Friday night, May 1, 1970. 

May 1-4 
About 11 p.m. Friday night some young people gathered in the street along the "strip" shouting antiwar slogans. Others joined them from the bars it was a hot night, and the bars were crowded and uncomfortable. When the police arrived, in 

This article is based on a paper presented by Dr. Lewis at the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Social Problems in August 1970. Excerpts see reprinted here from the Journal of New Politics, Vol. 8. Number 3

full riot gear, their first action was to close the bars, moving the customers onto the street and swelling the crowd to about 500. Demonstrators in the crowd started breaking store windows and throwing rocks and bottles at the police, who forced the crowd back toward the campus and dispersed it with tear gas. By 2 a.m. the town was calm. About 50 windows had been broken. 
The next morning the townspeople were in a panic. Rumors that there were Weathermen on campus and that the students were armed flew through the town. (Neither rumor was ever substantiated) Although the campus itseld was calm, during the day the university obtained an injunction against physical violence toward persons or property. About 1 p.m. Saturday I was asked by Robert Matson, then the Vice President of Student Affairs to help Glenn Frank, the faculty senate secretary, in forming groups of faculty peace marshals. 
By 8 p.m. faculty marshals and 40 student marshals were gathered on campus. our main activity was to tell the students, by way of leaflet about the injunction and to try to talk with them. For three quarters of an hour the crowd numbering about 300 to 500, moved around on campus, finally returning to the Commons. No one had articulated any plans for violence, and my feeling was that most of the crowd just wanted to see what would happen. 
Back at the Commons, the R.O.T.C. building, an old barracks, became the center of attention. Its windows were soon shattered. Someone reached through a broken window and tried to light the curtain with a paper match. It went out. Another tried a burning piece of paper,but the curtain only smouldered. A small flare thrown on the roof was equally unsuccessful. Finally, someone brought a rag soaked in gasoline from a nearby motorcycle which set the wall on fire. 

When the Fire Department arrived, their hoses were cut. Campus riot police in helmets and gas masks were pelted with rocks when they tried to guard the firemen. The fire was almost put out, but apparently the firemen were rattled and pulled out too soon. The blaze flared up again, and by the time they returned it was out of control. 
One crucial question, which has not yet been resolved, is why the police and firemen took so long to arrive. The campus police station is 100 yards from the R.O.T.C building and the fire station one half smile, yet at least 20 minutes and perhaps as much as 35 minutes elapsed bet

Jack Davies Kent State University News Service. 
Troop G and Company A approaching west side of Taylor Hall prior to shooting. 

ween the attack on the building and the arrival of the firemen and police. 
At 9:30 p.m. Saturday, the National Guard moved onto campus They had been in Kent since 7 a.m. called in by the mayor, who had heard the rumors about Weathermen and guns. The Guard took over the campus by force, often refusing freedom of movement to top University officials. 
Sunday morning Governor Rhodes arrived in Kent and met with University and local officials. He then changed the Guard's orders from protecting lives and property to breaking up any assembly on campus, whether peaceful or violent. He stated that every force of law and every weapon possible would be used, that no one was safe in Portage County, and added "I think we are up against the strongest, well trained militant group that has ever assembled in America." He also said that he would ask the legislature to make rock throwing a felony. (A policeman can shoot a fleeing felon)
Sunday night students shouted a lot at the Guard and the police, but the only incident took place when the Guard cleared a crowd of about 200 who were sitting down in the street, and bayonetted one student. By Monday morning, the students were angry, the Guardsmen weary, the town merchants short tempered, and the University officials powerless. Most classes were held. Then, shortly before noon, a crowd began to gather on the Commons. 

There were three sorts of students on the Commons; interactors, cheerleaders, and spectators. The interactors were those who confronted the Guard with gestures, shouts, and occasional missiles. The cheerleaders urged on the interactors with cheers and occasionally yelled at the Guard. The spectators just watched. The 600 or so interactors were standing around the victory bell, facing the Guardsmen protecting the burnt down R.O.T.C. building. The cheerleaders and spectators were concentrated around Taylor Hall and nearby dorms on the edge of the Commons. 

About noon the crowd was ordered to disperse and warned that it was violating an order barring any form of assembly. Shortly after the warning, the Guard started moving the crowd with tear gas. The crowd split, some going to the dorms some down onto the football practice field, and some (the group I was with) into the Taylor Hall parking lot. By any reasonable definition the crowd has been widely dispersed. 
As a marshal I was helping spectators (including one blind student) who had been gassed. Then I walked to the edge of the parking lot to watch the skirmish on the football practice field. About 70 soldiers had followed the students onto the field. About 70 soldiers had followed the students onto the field and were lobbing tear gas at them. Some students, in turn, were throwing clods of dirt and a few f the canisters back at the Guard. Most of the students were just watching or yelling taunts at the Guard. 
The Guard turned and marched in formation to the top of Taylor Hall hill. At that point about 10 to 15 guardsmen wheeled and fired, killing four and wounding nine others. This figure is based on my direct observations, but because I took cover immediately on seeing the smoke from the M- rifles, I underestimated the number of soldiers who fired. Testimony given at the Scranton Commission hearings indicated that 29 Guardsmen fired a minimum 6 shots in 13 seconds. 
The Guard did not attempt to render any aid to the wounded but continued pushing the attack. About eight to ten minutes after the killings five or six guardsmen came around the end of Taylor Hall opposite the site where the Guard fired. They walked up to a wounded student lying in the parking lot where most of the students were killed or wounded. this student was being given first aid by other students who began shouting at the Guard when they walked up. The Guard pointed their rifles at the student and his first aiders and tossed a tear gas cannister at the group. Fortunately it did not explode. 
The reason for the Guard pushing the attack is quite clear. Gen. Robert Canterbury said in his testimony that he was trying to break up the assembly because he felt students were on a lunch break and would go back to class at 1 p.m. The following exchange as reported in the Akron Beacon Journal (8/21/70) took place: 

Question: Has you at the time formed a clear mission in terms of how far you would disperse the crowd and how small  crowd there had to be for you to retrace your steps to the R.O.T.C building?
Canterbury: Yes. Our mission at that point was to split the crowd so there would be some time if they chose to reassemble. This was during lunch hour and classes were to resume to 35 to 40 minutes, and if we could disperse the crowd at this point we felt they would lose a substantial number of people. 

This is, of course, absurd. Classes are held at noon and I doubt if the students would have left for 1 o'clock classes. 
Many people have asked why the students had gathered on the Commons on Monday, despite Governor Rhodes' edict barring assemblies. The primary reason, of course, was the Viet Nam war. To the students, the invasion of Cambodia and the presence of the Guard on campus were both direct extensions of the war, and were detested equally. A second reason was that, over the previous two years. Kent State had experienced at least five sizeable marches and rallies that, in spite of tensions had been peaceful. Four of these five had either started or ended on the Commons. In the minds of most of the students and faculty, the Commons was seen as a sort of "Hyde Park" where dissent could be safely expressed. Finally, neither students nor faculty were aware that the Guard was carrying loaded weapons. Just after the Guard fired one of my colleagues shouted "Don#'t worry they are blanks.;"
To my knowledge, no warning was given , nor was there any sign of a sniper. 

Jerry M. Lewis is an assistant professor of Sociology at Kent State University. He was a faculty marshal at, and an eye witness to  the Kent State shootings on May 4, 1970.

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The Kent Story an eyewitness account by Jerry M. Lewis Before May 4, the students and faculty of Kent State often described it as the largest unknown university in the country. Of Kent's 22,000 students, over 80 percent come from Ohio and 62 percent come from the University's home county, Portage, and its six adjacent counties. Until recently Kent was known as a suitcase college that closed down every weekend, but this had changed. Forty percent of the students now live on campus and many more in the surrounding student ghettoes. Kent State students tend to be first generation college from well off working class families. They work hard and have a tremendous commitment to getting a degree. A great many - 33 percent in a recent survey - say they want to be teachers. Their outlook, both socially and politically, is quite localist. I once asked a student from Youngstown, about 40 miles from Kent, why she had come so far from home to attend school; she actually started to explain her reasons. Of the five colleges in the university, Education is the largest. It has a national reputation and ranks in the top 10 in the country for producing teachers. The president of the University, Robert I White was formerly Dean of Education. White describes himself as a "Jeffersonian Liberal" and is respected by the faculty and, reputedly by the state Board of Regents. He is a slow decision maker and stays fairly invisible, communicating to the faculty primarily through weekly newsletters. The town of Kent is 11 miles east of Akron and about an hour's drive from Cleveland. The 31.500 residents (50,000 counting students) are mostly employed in local light industry. The downtown area consists of small shops, professional offices, banks, a couple of drug stores, and half a dozen bars. These bars, with live music and room to dance serve both K.S.U. students and youth from Kent and the surrounding area. They are clustered together on one street, and that is where the troubles started on Friday night, May 1, 1970. May 1-4 About 11 p.m. Friday night some young people gathered in the street along the "strip" shouting antiwar slogans. Others joined them from the bars it was a hot night, and the bars were crowded and uncomfortable. When the police arrived, in This article is based on a paper presented by Dr. Lewis at the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Social Problems in August 1970. Excerpts see reprinted here from the Journal of New Politics, Vol. 8. Number 3 full riot gear, their first action was to close the bars, moving the customers onto the street and swelling the crowd to about 500. Demonstrators in the crowd started breaking store windows and throwing rocks and bottles at the police, who forced the crowd back toward the campus and dispersed it with tear gas. By 2 a.m. the town was calm. About 50 windows had been broken. The next morning the townspeople were in a panic. Rumors that there were Weathermen on campus and that the students were armed flew through the town. (Neither rumor was ever substantiated) Although the campus itseld was calm, during the day the university obtained an injunction against physical violence toward persons or property. About 1 p.m. Saturday I was asked by Robert Matson, then the Vice President of Student Affairs to help Glenn Frank, the faculty senate secretary, in forming groups of faculty peace marshals. By 8 p.m. faculty marshals and 40 student marshals were gathered on campus. our main activity was to tell the students, by way of leaflet about the injunction and to try to talk with them. For three quarters of an hour the crowd numbering about 300 to 500, moved around on campus, finally returning to the Commons. No one had articulated any plans for violence, and my feeling was that most of the crowd just wanted to see what would happen. Back at the Commons, the R.O.T.C. building, an old barracks, became the center of attention. Its windows were soon shattered. Someone reached through a broken window and tried to light the curtain with a paper match. It went out. Another tried a burning piece of paper,but the curtain only smouldered. A small flare thrown on the roof was equally unsuccessful. Finally, someone brought a rag soaked in gasoline from a nearby motorcycle which set the wall on fire. When the Fire Department arrived, their hoses were cut. Campus riot police in helmets and gas masks were pelted with rocks when they tried to guard the firemen. The fire was almost put out, but apparently the firemen were rattled and pulled out too soon. The blaze flared up again, and by the time they returned it was out of control. One crucial question, which has not yet been resolved, is why the police and firemen took so long to arrive. The campus police station is 100 yards from the R.O.T.C building and the fire station one half smile, yet at least 20 minutes and perhaps as much as 35 minutes elapsed bet Jack Davies Kent State University News Service. Troop G and Company A approaching west side of Taylor Hall prior to shooting. ween the attack on the building and the arrival of the firemen and police. At 9:30 p.m. Saturday, the National Guard moved onto campus They had been in Kent since 7 a.m. called in by the mayor, who had heard the rumors about Weathermen and guns. The Guard took over the campus by force, often refusing freedom of movement to top University officials. Sunday morning Governor Rhodes arrived in Kent and met with University and local officials. He then changed the Guard's orders from protecting lives and property to breaking up any assembly on campus, whether peaceful or violent. He stated that every force of law and every weapon possible would be used, that no one was safe in Portage County, and added "I think we are up against the strongest, well trained militant group that has ever assembled in America." He also said that he would ask the legislature to make rock throwing a felony. (A policeman can shoot a fleeing felon) Sunday night students shouted a lot at the Guard and the police, but the only incident took place when the Guard cleared a crowd of about 200 who were sitting down in the street, and bayonetted one student. By Monday morning, the students were angry, the Guardsmen weary, the town merchants short tempered, and the University officials powerless. Most classes were held. Then, shortly before noon, a crowd began to gather on the Commons. There were three sorts of students on the Commons; interactors, cheerleaders, and spectators. The interactors were those who confronted the Guard with gestures, shouts, and occasional missiles. The cheerleaders urged on the interactors with cheers and occasionally yelled at the Guard. The spectators just watched. The 600 or so interactors were standing around the victory bell, facing the Guardsmen protecting the burnt down R.O.T.C. building. The cheerleaders and spectators were concentrated around Taylor Hall and nearby dorms on the edge of the Commons. About noon the crowd was ordered to disperse and warned that it was violating an order barring any form of assembly. Shortly after the warning, the Guard started moving the crowd with tear gas. The crowd split, some going to the dorms some down onto the football practice field, and some (the group I was with) into the Taylor Hall parking lot. By any reasonable definition the crowd has been widely dispersed. As a marshal I was helping spectators (including one blind student) who had been gassed. Then I walked to the edge of the parking lot to watch the skirmish on the football practice field. About 70 soldiers had followed the students onto the field. About 70 soldiers had followed the students onto the field and were lobbing tear gas at them. Some students, in turn, were throwing clods of dirt and a few f the canisters back at the Guard. Most of the students were just watching or yelling taunts at the Guard. The Guard turned and marched in formation to the top of Taylor Hall hill. At that point about 10 to 15 guardsmen wheeled and fired, killing four and wounding nine others. This figure is based on my direct observations, but because I took cover immediately on seeing the smoke from the M- rifles, I underestimated the number of soldiers who fired. Testimony given at the Scranton Commission hearings indicated that 29 Guardsmen fired a minimum 6 shots in 13 seconds. The Guard did not attempt to render any aid to the wounded but continued pushing the attack. About eight to ten minutes after the killings five or six guardsmen came around the end of Taylor Hall opposite the site where the Guard fired. They walked up to a wounded student lying in the parking lot where most of the students were killed or wounded. this student was being given first aid by other students who began shouting at the Guard when they walked up. The Guard pointed their rifles at the student and his first aiders and tossed a tear gas cannister at the group. Fortunately it did not explode. The reason for the Guard pushing the attack is quite clear. Gen. Robert Canterbury said in his testimony that he was trying to break up the assembly because he felt students were on a lunch break and would go back to class at 1 p.m. The following exchange as reported in the Akron Beacon Journal (8/21/70) took place: Question: Has you at the time formed a clear mission in terms of how far you would disperse the crowd and how small crowd there had to be for you to retrace your steps to the R.O.T.C building? Canterbury: Yes. Our mission at that point was to split the crowd so there would be some time if they chose to reassemble. This was during lunch hour and classes were to resume to 35 to 40 minutes, and if we could disperse the crowd at this point we felt they would lose a substantial number of people. This is, of course, absurd. Classes are held at noon and I doubt if the students would have left for 1 o'clock classes. Many people have asked why the students had gathered on the Commons on Monday, despite Governor Rhodes' edict barring assemblies. The primary reason, of course, was the Viet Nam war. To the students, the invasion of Cambodia and the presence of the Guard on campus were both direct extensions of the war, and were detested equally. A second reason was that, over the previous two years. Kent State had experienced at least five sizeable marches and rallies that, in spite of tensions had been peaceful. Four of these five had either started or ended on the Commons. In the minds of most of the students and faculty, the Commons was seen as a sort of "Hyde Park" where dissent could be safely expressed. Finally, neither students nor faculty were aware that the Guard was carrying loaded weapons. Just after the Guard fired one of my colleagues shouted "Don#'t worry they are blanks.;" To my knowledge, no warning was given , nor was there any sign of a sniper. Jerry M. Lewis is an assistant professor of Sociology at Kent State University. He was a faculty marshal at, and an eye witness to the Kent State shootings on May 4, 1970.