Thank You Alan Canfora for Speaking at Earlham on April 30th.

We enjoyed your presentation on Kent State and Student Activism Today.

Alan Canfora led a workshop on student action in the Orchard room of Runyan Center at 7:00 on Wednesday April 30th. Alan Canfora is a survivor of the Kent State massacre of 1970.
For more information on Kent State, contact Annii Frazer

KENT STATE: May 1-4, 1970
(text written by May 4th Task Force Members)

On April 30th, President Nixon announced on national
television that a massive American-South Vietnamese troop
offensive into Cambodia was in progress. "We take these
actions," Nixon said, "not for the purpose of expanding the
war into Cambodia, but for the purpose of ending the war in
Vietnam, and winning the just peace we all desire."
These were familiar words to a war-weary public. Some
felt that this decision was essential for attaining a "just
peace" and sustaining America's credibility in the world.
Yet others, particularly students, believed that this action
represented an escalation of the war and a return to ex-President
Johnson's earlier hopes for a military victory. As the fires
from the artillery began to burn in Cambodia, a raging fire of
protest spread across the United States.
At Kent State University, the reaction to Nixon's announcement
was similar to that of other campuses across the nation.

FRIDAY MAY 1, 1970

At noon about 500 students gathered around the Victory Bell
on the Commons, the traditional site for rallies. A group of
history students, who had organized the protest, buried a copy
of the Constitution, which they claimed had been murdered when
US troops were sent into Cambodia without a declaration of war
by Congress.
Three hours later, Black United Students held a rally, which
had been scheduled before Nixon had made his announcement. Some
400 people gathered to hear black students talk about recent
disorders with the Ohio National Guard on their campus. Word
spread quickly that another rally, one to oppose the invasion
of Cambodia, was scheduled for Monday, May 4, at noon.
Friday night, one of the first warm evenings of the spring,
several hundred students gathered in downtown Kent in an area
with a number of bars, known as "the Strip," on North Water
Street. A spontaneous anti-war rally began in the street.
Twice, while the rally was in progress, passing police cruisers
were hit with beer bottles. Afterwards, police stayed away from
the area. Meanwhile, more people were leaving the bars.
Many in the crowd chanted anti-war slogans, and a bonfire
was set in the street. The crowd blocked traffic for about an
hour and then moved toward the center of town. Some members
of the crowd began to break windows. Primarily "political targets"
were attacked, including banks, loan companies, and utility
companies.
After being informed of the events, Kent Mayor Leroy Satrom
declared a "state of emergency," and arbitrarily ordered all of
the bars closed. Kent police, along with the mayor, then confronted
the crowd. The riot act was read and police proceeded to clear the
area. People inside the bars were ordered to leave, forcing
hundreds more into the streets. The crowd was herded toward the
campus with tear gas and knight sticks, which was in the opposite
direction in which some of them lived.
Fourteen persons, mostly stragglers, were arrested. About
$5000 in damage was done as 43 windows were broken--28 in one bank.

SATURDAY, MAY 2, 1970

On the morning of May 2, some KSU students assisted with the
downtown cleanup. Rumors of radical activities were widespread,
and KSU's ROTC building was believed to be the target of militant
students that evening. During the Vietnam War, students on many
college campuses opposed the presence of ROTC and often were
successful in forcing the removal of ROTC from their campuses.
A dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed on the city of Kent, and students
were restricted to the campus. At 5 p.m., shortly after assessing
the situation, Mayor Satrom alerted the Ohio National Guard. KSU
officials were unaware of this decision.
Shortly after 8 p.m., about 300 people gathered on the Commons,
where a few anti-war slogans were chanted and a few brief speeches
given. An impromptu march began and participants headed towards the
dormitories to gain strength. Large numbers of people joined the
march. The now 2,000 marches swarmed the hill overlooking the
Commons, crossed the Commons. Then they surrounded the ROTC
building, an old wooden World War II barracks which was scheduled
to be demolished. Windows were broken and a few persons eventually
set the building on fire.
Plain-clothed police who were standing nearby made no attempt
to stop the students at this point. Firemen arrived on the scene
but their actions were abandoned because some of the crowd attacked
the firemen and slashed their hoses. The blaze quickly died out.
The firemen eventually regained control and the fire died out.
The building was ignited again. This time, however, firemen
arrived with massive police protection. Police surrounded the
building and dispersed the students with tear gas. The firemen
again got the fire under control. The crowd then moved to the
front of the campus. The students retreated to the Commons to
find the ROTC building smoldering at both ends. Within minutes,
the building was fully ablaze.
The crowd then assembled on the wooded hillside beside the
commons and watched as the building burned. Many shouted anti-
war slogans. In the first two weeks of May, thirty ROTC buildings
would be burned nationwide.
Armed with tear gas and drawn bayonets, the guard pursued
students, protesters and bystanders alike, into dormitories and
other campus buildings. Some stones were thrown and at least one
student was bayoneted. The question of who set the fire that
destroyed ROTC building has never been satisfactorily answered by
any investigative body.

SUNDAY, MAY 3, 1970

May 3 was a relatively quiet day. By now, however, the campus
was fully occupied by Ohio National Guard troops, and armored
personnel carriers were stationed throughout the campus.
Although some students and guardsmen fraternized, the feeling, for
the most part, was one of mutual hostility. That morning, Ohio
Governor James Rhodes, who was running for US Senate, arrived in
Kent and along with city officials, held a news conference. Rhodes,
running on a "law and order" platform, attempted to use this
opportunity to garner votes in the primary election, which was
only two days away.
In a highly inflammatory speech, Rhodes claimed that the
demonstrations at Kent were the handiwork of a highly organized
band of revolutionaries who were out to "destroy higher
education in Ohio." These protesters, Rhodes declared, were "the
worst type of people we harbor in America, worse than the brown
shirts and the communist element...we will use whatever force
necessary to drive them out of Kent!"
Later that evening, a National Guard commander would tell
his troops that Ohio law gave them the right to shoot if
necessary. This merely sent to heighten guardsmen's hostility
toward students.
Around 8 p.m., a crowd gathered on the Commons near the
Victory Bell. As the group increased in size, Guard officials
announced the immediate enforcement of a new curfew. The crowd
refused to disperse. At 9 p.m. the Ohio Riot act was read. Tear
gas was fired from helicopters hovering overhead, and the Guard
dispersed the crowd from the area.
Students attempted to demonstrate that the curfew was
unnecessary by peacefully marching towards the town, but were
met by guardsmen. Students then staged a spontaneous sit-in
at the intersection of East Main and Lincoln Streets and demanded
that Mayor Satrom and KSU president Robert White speak with them
about the Guard's presence on campus. Assured that this demand
would be met, the crowd agreed to move from the street onto the
front lawn of campus.
The guard then betrayed the students and announced that the
curfew would go into effect immediately. Helicopters and tear
gas were used to disperse the demonstrators. As the crowd
attempted to escape, some were bayoneted and clubbed by guardsmen.
Students were again pursued and prodded back to their
dormitories. Tear gas innundated the campus, and helicopters
with searchlights hovered overhead all night.

MONDAY, MAY 4, 1970

At 11 a.m., about 200 students gathered on the Commons.
Earlier that morning, state and local officials had met in Kent.
Some officials had assumed that Gov. Rhodes had declared Martial
Law to be in effect--but he had not. In fact, martial law was
not officially declared until May 5. Nevertheless, the National
Guard resolved to disperse any assembly.
As noon approached, the size of the crowd increased to 1,500.
Some were merely spectators, while others had gathered specifically
to protest the invasion of Cambodia and the continued presence
of the National Guard on the campus. Upon orders of Ohio's
Assistant Adjutant General Robert Canterbury, an army jeep was
driven in front of the assembled students. The students were told
by means of a bullhorn to disperse immediately. Students
responded with jeers and chants. When the students refused to
disperse, Gen. Canterbury ordered the guardsmen to disperse them.
Approximately 116 men, equipped with loaded M-1 rifles and tear
gas, formed a skirmish line towards the students. Aware of bayonet
injuries of the previous evening, students immediately ran away from
the attacking National Guardsmen. Retreating up Blanket Hill, some
students lobbed tear gas canisters back at the advancing troops, and
one straggler was attacked with clubs.
The Guard, after clearing the Commons, marched over the crest
of the hill, firing tear gas and scattering the students into a
wider area. The Guard then continued marching down the hill and
onto a practice football field. For approximately 10 minutes, the
guard stayed in this position. During this time, tear gas canisters
were thrown back and forth from the Guard's position to a small
group of students n the Prentice Hall parking lot, about 100 yards
away. Some students responded to the guardsmen's attack by
throwing stones. Guardsmen also threw stones at the students.
But because of the distance, most stones from both parties fell far
short of their targets. The vast majority of students, however,
were spectators on the veranda of Taylor Hall. While on the practice
field, several members of Troop G, which would within minutes fire the
fatal volley, knelt and aimed their weapons at the students in the
parking lot.
Gen. Canterbury concluded that the crowd had been dispersed and
ordered the Guard to march back to the commons area. Some members of
Troop G then huddled briefly. After reassembling on the field, the
Guardsmen seemed to begin to retreat as they marched back up the hill,
retracing their previous steps.
Members of Troop G, while advancing up the hill, continued
to glance back to the parking lot, where the most militant and vocal
students were located. The students assumed the confrontation
was over. Many students began to walk to their next classes.
As the guard reached the crest of the Blanket Hill, near the
Pagoda of Taylor Hall, about a dozen members of Troop G
simultaneously turned around 180 degrees, aimed and fired their
weapons into the crowd in the Prentice Hall parking lot. The
1975 civil trials proved that there was a verbal command to fire.
A total of 67 shots were fired in 13 seconds. Four students:
Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer and William Schroeder
were killed. Nine students were wounded: Joseph Lewis, John Cleary,
Thomas Grace, Robbie Stamps, Donald Scott MacKenzie, Alan Canfora,
Douglas Wrentmore, James Russell and Dean Kahler. Of the wounded,
one was permanently paralyzed, and several were seriously maimed.
All were full-time students.

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