A Controversy of Monumental Proportions at the Kent State Memorial

Posted on Jul 15, 2024

An outdoor memorial featuring two horizontal pillars in between trees — The Kent State memorial commemorating the May 4, 1970, shootings. Andre Jenny/Alamy Stock Photo; Mindy Farmer

The Kent State memorial commemorating the May 4, 1970, shootings has been polarizing since its inception.

This article originally appeared in Museum magazine’s July/August 2024 issue, a benefit of AAM membership.

On August 24, 2023, winds of change literally blew through Kent State University. Security cameras captured the moments when a powerful, sudden storm blew over trees, damaging the official memorial to what is widely known as the Kent State Massacre, but at Kent is simply called May 4, 1970. Debates over the memorial’s future have reopened the deep wounds inflicted when members of the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of students, killing four and injuring nine others.

Officially dedicated during the events commemorating the 20th anniversary in 1990, the abstract memorial features a 70-foot-wide plaza intended to encourage reflection and four pylons representing the students killed. Designed by Bruno Ast, it was originally awarded second place by the jurors of a national design competition. However, when the first-place design was disqualified for failing to meet US citizen requirements, the Ohio convention of the American Legion seized the opportunity to criticize the university for planning to build a “memorial to terrorists.” The Ohio Fraternal Order of Police soon joined them in opposition. Ultimately, fundraising fell well short of the estimated $1.3 million price tag, and university trustees asked Ast for a blueprint that would not exceed $100,000. Few people found the compromise satisfactory.

The current university administration’s commitment to repairing the broken memorial amid a renewed call to remove the “memorial of four granite coffins,” as it was recently described by a victim’s sister, illustrates the constant renegotiation of the collective memory of a polarizing event that both reflected and exacerbated the cultural wars of the Nixon era. Fixing the now-splintered granite monument offers Kent State University a powerful opportunity, should it choose to take it, to interpret both the history of May 4, 1970, and the longstanding divisions over its commemoration.

Before, on, and After May 4

For many, the Kent State shootings are embodied by the graphic, Pulitzer Prize–winning photograph of Mary Ann Vecchio expressing a combination of horror and disbelief over Jeffery Miller’s bloody body. The scene was almost unimaginable. Never had uniformed members of the US military shot and killed unarmed students.

Chalk tributes and candles outline Chalk tributes and candles outlining a memorial — Chalk tributes and candles outline Allison Krause’s memorial at the 30th annual commemoration of the May 4, 1970, shootings.

Alan Canfora was among those wounded by the 67 shots fired over 13 seconds. He was at the center of another striking image from that day. Minutes before the shooting, Canfora was pictured from behind waving a black flag of protest as the Ohio National Guard knelt in front of him, some with their guns aimed in his direction. From 1970 until his unexpected passing in 2020, Canfora would personify the slogan often seen and spoken at commemorations: “Long Live the Memory of Kent State.” A longtime activist, he frequently spoke on behalf of the victims.

The Kent State shootings followed four days of upheaval. On Thursday, April 30, President Richard Nixon’s televised announcement that the United States would attack targets in Cambodia sparked nationwide protests among students who called for an end to the war and the draft. In downtown Kent, a morning of demonstrations spilled into the evening. After several disturbances, including trash fires and beer bottles thrown at police, city officials closed the bars. As the crowd dispersed, windows were broken and buildings were damaged.

Early Saturday afternoon, with Governor James A. Rhodes’ approval, the Ohio National Guard started making their way from a nearby Teamsters strike to the campus. As night fell, activists marched around campus, gathering supporters on their way to the Reserve Officers’ Training Corp (ROTC) building. For antiwar demonstrators, the ROTC represented the military on campus and was a frequent target of student opposition nationwide. When a fire broke out at the ROTC building, protestors actively tried to prevent the fire department from extinguishing the flames. The Ohio National Guard arrived as the building burned.

At a press conference on Sunday, May 3, Governor Rhodes called the “radicals” responsible for the damage “worse than the brown shirts and the communist element, and also the night riders and the vigilantes.” That evening, students clashed with Guardsmen as tensions escalated and helicopters buzzed overhead.

May 4 would never again be a typical day at Kent State University. Around noon, both service members and students gathered in the large common space, below the current memorial site. To disperse the crowd, the Guard divided into sections. After some maneuvering, 28 Guardsmen fired from atop the highest nearby hill.

On May 4, 1970, there were no protocols on how to respond to traumatic events. Campus was immediately closed, and students were abruptly told to leave without counseling or mental health support. Some students arrived home to parents who blamed them for inciting violence. Some Kent residents resented the students for forever linking their hometown to a controversial tragedy, exacerbating the town-gown divide often present in college cities.

In September, a report from Nixon’s Presidential Commission on Campus Unrest concluded, “The actions of some students were violent and criminal and those of some others were dangerous, reckless, and irresponsible. The indiscriminate firing of rifles into a crowd of students and the deaths that followed were unnecessary, unwarranted, and inexcusable.”

Legally, the first indictments were against the “Kent 25,” a group of students, former students, and one faculty member involved in the weekend of protests. Nearly all the charges were ultimately dismissed. Years of court cases ended in 1979, when the state of Ohio issued a “statement of regret” signed by the former governor and Guardsmen, and awarded the victims a settlement of $675,000.

Commemoration Amid Controversy

Public opinion remained divided as the cases proceeded through the justice system. With tensions swirling, in 1975 university administrators announced that they would no longer plan a commemoration. In response, the May 4 Task Force, a student-led group with support from Canfora and many of the other victims, took on the responsibility of coordinating the annual event. The May 4 Task Force remained in charge until 2019 when the university trustees adopted a resolution stating, “For the continuity and sustainability of these efforts, the time is right for the university to assume responsibility for the annual May 4 commemoration.” Canfora was among the survivors invited to serve on the 50th anniversary advisory committee.

In 1990, long before the university sought his counsel, Canfora authored a passionate article for Vietnam Generation titled “The May 4 Memorial at Kent State University: Legitimate Tribute or Monument to Insensitivity?” There he sharply criticized Kent State University for failing to include the victims in the memorial design. He concluded, “The American people care about freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom to dissent. We will prove the American people remember and care. We will attain a proper Kent May 4 Memorial.” Likely in response to this criticism, a plaque inscribed with the names of the four students killed and nine wounded was added just prior to the dedication. Until that point, no names were included in the design.

Despite Canfora’s pledge, and several important additions to the interpretive landscape—including memorial markers added to the Prentice Hall parking lot in 1999 to note where Sandra Scheuer, William Schroeder, Jeffery Miller, and Allison Krause were killed and the May 4 Visitors Center that opened in 2012—the memorial itself remains unchanged. Over time, its once-loud critics have grown quieter. However, they have yet to go completely silent.

This past October, Allison Krause’s sister posted an open letter to Kent State on her social media accounts. “Before we rebuild this damaged memorial, I’d like to share my wish to tear the memorial down and hope you will consider this survivor family’s request to build a more fitting and meaningful May 4, 1970 Kent State Massacre Memorial.… The existing memorial does not speak to anything except the U.S. military force’s outrageous killing on May 4, 1970.” The same month, a commentator on the university’s official Facebook page agreed that the memorial should be removed but echoed past criticism that “this riot monument has been up too long!” Though the university has not issued a public response, it continues to update the public on the status of the repairs on its website.

According to a university analysis, 17 of the 137 granite panels, approximately 12 percent, will need to be replaced. It is unlikely that the new panels will completely match the weathered original installation. The undamaged panels include the inscription “Inquire, Learn, Reflect.” Originally intended to reference May 4, 1970, those words apply equally to the memorial.

Whether broken or mended, the altered monument more accurately reflects the legacy of the Kent State shootings. Its design was shaped by people who wanted to remember the victims and lessons of May 4 as well as those who might prefer the day be forgotten. The damaged May 4 memorial carries wounds from the battle of historical memory and the ongoing, challenging work of reconciliation and making peace with the past.

For museum professionals, the memorial serves as an example of the historical trauma carried by a still-divided generation. To effectively interpret controversial history, it is best to meet people where they are. In the case of Kent State, people still come from many different, fractured places.