Kent State U. tragedy reaches30th anniversary

by Meghan Merkel features editor

It was 1970.

President Richard Nixon recently announced that the fighting in Vietnam would expand to Cambodia. This meant more drafting of college students. Tension built across the country, especially at Kent State University in Ohio. Angered students banded together and burned down the big wooden ' ROTC building on Kent's campus.

The governor of Ohio, James Rhodes, summoned the National Guard, concerned about the rioters. He was quoted as comparing the outraged students as being "worse then Hitler's brown shirts."

Like unwanted chaperones, the National Guard came to campus.

Cathy Yungmann is currently the associate professor of communication here at Cabrini. In 1970 she was a freshman working at Kent State University's radio sta- tion. hard to imagine the immensity of Kent's campus. With 20,000 kids attending, not one was outdoors. It was eerie."

''The [National Guard] invasion was ridiculous. Every third car was a National Guard jeep. There were curfews so no one could go out anywhere at night," Yungmann recalled. "Noise from helicopters distracted us 24 hours a day. People were not permitted to walk together to class with more than three people," she continued.

Days later a group of people gathered together on a campus hill to peacefully protest. The National Guard threatened the group, ordering them to disperse and they refused.

Soon after, tear gas was sent up the hill. "Supposedly next there was an unconfirmed shot from the protesters towards one of the guards. Nevertheless, the National Guard opened fire,"Yungmann explained.

Four students were killed in the line of the National Guard's fire.

Nine were wounded.

Sandy Schrowder, an honor student, was reported to be walking in the opposite direction going to class and was killed by a "stray bullet."

The students had to evacuate the campus immediately. They were not allowed to return to gather their belongings for another six weeks. "When we were finally allowed to go back, we had an hour to get there and had to be escorted by the guards at all times."

-Cathy Yungmann, associate professor of communication said about the walk back to her dorm after the shooting took place

Yungmann stayed at the radio station to cover the news. Only one hour after the shootings, she returned to her dormitory. "I will never forget that walk home. It's

Dr. Jolyon Girard, professor of history, was a second lieutenant in the Vietnam war. " I feel that it was inappropriate for the officers to be issued live ammunitions," Girard stated. He continued, 'The First Amendment allows people to protest. Therefore they had every right to be there and had no business being shot."

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, a popular singing group at the time, wrote the song titled, "Ohio." VHl senior producer Thomas Kaniewski was quoted in an on-air interview saying, "It was a hard-hitting song that indicted an American president for murder. It shows that freedom of speech is alive and well in America-- that song gives back a voice to the students who had it taken away that day."

David Crosby. of C,S,N&Y,recalled in an interview, " There we were, reacting to the reality. The song named names and pointed the finger. It said 'Nixon.' I was so moved by it that I completely lost it at the end of the song in the recording studio, screaming ... 'Four. Why How many more?'

" Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young gave a free concert for the students when they returned to Kent State in September. "It was our anthem. We went crazy when we heard it," Yungmann stated.

The Kent State shootings erupted an explosion of protests countrywide. Four-hundred universities and colleges were shut down and even professors staged strikes. "It struck me as strange and ironic that African-Americans were killed at Jackson State University shortly after [the Kent State shootings]. But it never made the media," Girard speculated.

Nixon's press secretary, Ron Ziegler, responded to the country on air about the deaths, "when dissent turns to violence, it invites tragedy."

And so, this May marks the 30year anniversary of the time when Kent State was in turmoil. When asked how hearing the song "Ohio" after all these years affects her, Yungmann manages a quieted whisper, "After all this time, it is still very emotional."

For more information on the Kent State shootings, several networks will be airing shows around the anniversary of the shootings. VH-1 will be airing a segment on its "For the Record" called "Politics," in which "Ohio" will be featured. The show will feature archival footage from the demonstration and interviews with a shooting victim. Also, NBC. on May 7, will air a miniseries entitled, 'The 70s," which will feature incidents surrounding the Kent State tragedy.