May 4 Commemoration
On May 3-4, 2024, ѿappUniversity will hold its annual commemoration honoring the memory of May 4, 1970, a tragic day when the Ohio National Guard fired on ѿappstudents during an anti-war protest on campus, killing four students, wounding nine others and sparking a turning point in American history.
A visiting documentary star (and Elvis fan) received a very special welcome at Kent State.
The ѿappCommunity came together for the 53rd Commemoration of May 4, 1970.
As someone who studied higher education administration, ѿappUniversity Assistant Professor Erica Eckert, Ph.D., had always wondered what it would have been like to experience the May 4, 1970, ѿappshootings as a student affairs administrator.
The lecture series created in 2022 to honor the legacy of ѿappUniversity Professor Emeritus of Sociology Jerry M. Lewis, Ph.D., will feature ѿappAssistant Professor of Higher Education Administration Erica Eckert, Ph.D., as this year’s selected speaker.
Advancing the legacy of May 4, 1970, a tragic day when the Ohio National Guard fired on ѿappUniversity students during an anti-war protest on campus, killing four students, wounding nine students and forever changing the lives of countless others, the university will hold its annual commemoration on May 3-4.
ѿappUniversity has scheduled a variety of programs, events and exhibits for this year’s remembrance of May 4, 1970, to honor the four students who were killed, the nine students who were wounded and the countless others whose lives were forever changed when the Ohio National Guard fired on ѿappstudents during an anti-war protest.
A new interactive exhibit from the Wick Poetry Center that encouraged visitors to explore the history of student protest through the ѿappshootings, has opened in the Kent Student Center as part of May 4 commemoration activities.
This year’s return of in-person events to commemorate the ѿappshootings will include the dedication of bronze markers placed on the spots where nine students were wounded on May 4, 1970. Markers designating the locations of each of the four students killed were installed in 1999. Since that time, a small group had been working to have similar markers placed for the wounded students.