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The independent news website of The Kent Stater & KSTV

KentStater

The independent news website of The Kent Stater & KSTV

KentStater

The independent news website of The Kent Stater & KSTV

KentStater

Photo courtesy of the Mapping May 4 website. 

Mapping May 4 project connects history to its location

Annalexis Davis, Reporter May 4, 2023

The Mapping of May 4 website expanded to local places in Kent to display an archive map of May 4. The project aims to make May 4 history immersive.  Sara Koopman is an Assistant Professor and geographer...

Leaders of the Kent State Candlelight Vigil holding four candles in honor of the lives lost May 4, 1970.

53rd annual candlelight vigil commemorates lives lost on May 4

Jillian Flack, Reporter May 4, 2023

Stars were not the only thing that lit up the sky of the Prentice parking lot last night: dozens of small white candles did as well. Illuminated by these flames, a memorial read four names: Allison Krause,...

Protesters crowd the edge of the Commons below Taylor Hall as they shout and gesture at National Guardsmen during the disturbances on the Kent State campus May 4, 1970. At left, in a cowboy-style shirt and wearing a headband, is Jeffrey Miller, who was killed later that day. 

May 4: A legacy of student activism on campus

Leah Shepard, Staff Reporter May 4, 2023

Kent State’s history of student activism goes back further than May 4, 1970, and will stretch even further into the future, said professor and May 4 survivor, Roseann “Chic” Canfora. She said Kent...

Taylor Hall sits above the Student Commons where the May 4 commemoration is set to be held.

May 4 53rd Commemoration focuses on ‘The Power of Our Voices’

Francesca Malinky, Reporter April 29, 2023

Starting May 3 and moving through the night into May 4, a luncheon, film screenings, candle-lit vigil walk and a commemoration ceremony are elements of this year's May 4 remembrance. On May 4, 1970,...

The Vocal Majority exhibit on display in Taylor Hall's May 4 Visitors Center showcases the various anti-war protests across the US in 1969 leading up to the May 4th Shootings. The display first opened on Feb. 22, 2023 and will remain open until May 31, 2023.

Vocal Majority Exhibit: Designed by students for educating

Francesca Malinky, Reporter April 17, 2023

Educating visitors and students on the anti-war movement in fall 1969 that lead up to the events on May 4, 1970 is the focus for the new exhibit on Kent State’s campus.  During this time period,...

Presidential historian Jon Meacham presents his keynote speech on May 4, 2022.

Pulitzer prize winner gives May 4 keynote speech

Emma MacNiven, Reporter May 6, 2022

An attentive audience burst with laughter at “An Evening with Jon Meacham” Thursday night. Meacham, the keynote speaker for the Presidential Speaker Series, gave his insight on today’s political...

Swaths of people attend Kent State's May 4 Commemoration in the memory of those who were lost.

Kent State community gathers for 52nd anniversary of May 4 shootings

Kaitlyn Finchler and Zaria Johnson May 4, 2022

Thomas Grace, a survivor whose name is synonymous with the May 4, 1970 shootings where four Kent State students lost their lives, rang the Victory Bell on the Commons below Taylor Hall in their memory...

Avery Hall, president of the May 4 Task Force, speaks at the 52nd commemoration of the May 4 shootings.

Kent community responds to 52nd May 4 commemoration

Kaitlyn Finchler and Zaria Johnson May 4, 2022

“I went over to Jeff Miller's body, I had only met Jeff two weeks prior at a party we were having at the quarry on route 43.” -- Dennis Rein, May 4 witness “[May 4] is important to me, because...

A 1972 Kent State University graduate and author of Death and Dissent in the Long Sixties, Thomas Grace, attends an author's visit on May 4, 2022.

Kent State bookstore hosts May 4 authors 

Morgan McGrath, Reporter May 4, 2022

The Kent State University bookstore was filled with students, staff and alumni on the morning of Wednesday, May 4, 2022.Long tables were covered in blue cloth with name tags of various authors, all of...

Sights and Sounds of the May 4 52nd Commemoration

Maddy Haberberger and Chris Abreu May 4, 2022
Late morning saw the return of crowds to Blanket Hill as hundreds gathered on the Student Commons for the annual commemoration. The voices of the Kent State Chorale rang strong as they sang; “Find the cost of freedom, Buried in the ground, Mother Earth will swallow you, Lay your body down.”
A woman in a bright green jacket held her own candle for the May 4 candlelight vigil on the morning of Wednesday, May 4.

Students, witnesses and community honor 52nd anniversary of May 4 at walk and vigil

Hannah Keil and Isabella Schreck May 4, 2022

Laura Davis, a freshman at Kent State in 1970, watched the May 4 shooting happen from a distance. Today, as she does every year, she comes back to retrace her steps and remember the lives of her peers,...

Todd Diacon poses with five of the nine wounded survivors from the May 4 shooting at a dedication ceremony for markers honoring the wounded.  
(L-R) Donald Scott Mackenzie, John Cleary, Thomas Grace, Todd Diacon, Joseph Lewis
Bottom: Dean Kahler

Nine markers dedicated to commemorate May 4 wounded

Alexandra Golden, Assigning Editor May 4, 2022

Nine former students, who were wounded on May 4, 1970, were honored during a dedication ceremony for markers placed at each spot near Taylor Hall where they were shot 52 years ago. Four other students...