May 4 50
New Wave ’80s band Devo isn’t just from Ohio. Devo wasn’t just created in Akron. Devo was forged at Kent State University under the pressure of the turmoil of the late ’60s and the events surrounding May 4, 1970. Authors David Giffels and Jade Dellinger brought their book “The Beginning Was the End: Devo in Ohio” to Kent State for a book signing and discussion.
Stories of friendship and loss set against the backdrop of May 4 memorabilia and a ’60s soundtrack were the focal points of a listening party held Sept. 21 as part of “Snapshots in Time: The Lives of Four Students” with musician and May 4 survivor Chris Butler.
As someone who studied higher education administration, Kent State University Assistant Professor Erica Eckert, Ph.D., had always wondered what it would have been like to experience the May 4, 1970, Kent State shootings as a student affairs administrator.
The May 4 Task Force is a student-led organization dedicated to honoring the memory of May 4, 1970, and shedding light on the injustices that followed. Through year-round educational events and continuous activism, the group focuses on what May 4 means to current students.
Kent State University’s School of Peace and Conflict Studies was created as a living memorial to the four students killed on May 4, 1970.
As the university prepares to mark the 53rd anniversary of the shootings, the school’s director says honoring the legacy of May 4 is still key to the school’s identity and mission.
To better understand the events that transpired at Kent State University on May 4, 1970, we must also understand the national tension and climate leading up to that day. A graduate student and two design students have demonstrated the context of May 4 in a stunning, creative visual exhibit.
It may be hard to imagine what the Kent campus looked like 53 years ago. With the May 4 Augmented Reality Experience, students and community members can be transported into the past to experience historical flashbacks and engage with Kent State’s previous generations.
The lecture series created in 2022 to honor the legacy of Kent State University Professor Emeritus of Sociology Jerry M. Lewis, Ph.D., will feature Kent State Assistant Professor of Higher Education Administration Erica Eckert, Ph.D., as this year’s selected speaker.
The Maltempi family is not your average Kent State family. Three generations of the Maltempis have attended Kent State. Seven family members have graduated from or are currently attending Kent State.
Advancing the legacy of May 4, 1970, a tragic day when the Ohio National Guard fired on Kent State University students during an anti-war protest on campus, killing four students, wounding nine students and forever changing the lives of countless others, the university will hold its annual commemoration on May 3-4.