Events at KSU today mark 42nd anniversary of campus shootings

May 4, 2012 at 12:15a.m.

Staff report

KENT

Today marks the 42nd anniversary of the shootings on the Kent State University campus that killed four students, including Sandra Scheuer of Boardman.

The commemoration event, hosted by the May 4 Task Force, begins at noon today on the Commons, site of the shootings. This year’s theme is “Don’t Give Up the Fight!” Many speakers will discuss the effect of May 4 on the Kent State community, as well as college campuses nationwide.

Also today, a book signing of “Democratic Narrative, History, and Memory,” edited by Carole Barbato and Laura Davis, will be held from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the University Bookstore in the Kent Student Center. Barbato, who was a Kent State student in 1970, is a communication studies professor for Kent State University at East Liverpool. Davis, who was a freshman at Kent State when the May 4 events occurred, is an English professor and the university’s faculty coordinator for May 4 initiatives.

At today’s Commons ceremony, multiple speakers will discuss the effect of May 4 on the Kent State community, as well as college campuses nationwide. The featured speakers include Beth Vild for Allison Krause; Bryan Staul for Jeffrey Miller; Barbato for Sandra Scheuer; Jim Mueller for William Schroeder; Sandford “Sandy” Rosen, attorney for families and victims in 1977; Maia O’Meara, student representing Project Vietnam from Kent Roosevelt High School; Joe Cullum, witness to May 4; Joe Lewis, witness and victim of May 4; Davis; Jon Schluepp, Warriors Journey Home; and Howie Emmer, 1960s activist.

Today’s itinerary also will consist of the Kent State chronology followed by the ringing of the Victory Bell and tributes to the four deceased students. Melanie Safka and Carlos Jones will perform the day’s music.

Each spring, Kent State inquires, learns and reflects on social, cultural and historical events through the annual Symposium on Democracy, held in commemoration of the events surrounding May 4, 1970. The symposium honors the memories of the four students — Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer and William Schroeder — who lost their lives on that day, with an enduring dedication to scholarship that seeks to prevent violence and to promote democratic values and civil discourse.