Task Force selects theme and annual

Planning for the 39th annual May 4 commemoration is in full swing now that the theme has been illustrated.

May 4 Task Force chose the winning illustration in its annual T-shirt design competition at the last meeting.

John Powers, the Task Force president, said the illustration of a peace sign with the bottom part made up of the Taylor Hall pagoda was chosen because it was unlike any design the group had seen before.

While the design is not completely finished, the group thought it would best represent this year’s theme: “Remembering the past, reshaping the future.”

T-shirts will be sold on the day of the commemoration for $15, Powers said.

In addition to the design, two speakers have been finalized.

John Filo, a former Daily Kent Stater photographer who took the famous May 4 photo of a girl leaning over the dead body of Jeffrey Miller, will be speaking.

The then-14-year-old-girl in Filo’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photo, Mary Ann Vecchio, will also speak.

Vecchio was not a student at the time, but a runaway who was protesting the war.

Powers said he hopes the speakers’ connections to the historic day will draw students to the events on May 4.

Powers also said the group has been working to get students more involved by collaborating with the group working on the Symposium Against Violence.

The symposium, which will run May 3 through May 5, will coincide with the May 4 events.

– Melissa Dilley