May 4 Commemoration

McArevey and Elvis meet

When Kent State University President Todd Diacon first viewed the “Young Plato” documentary at this year’s Cleveland International Film Festival in March, he immediately knew that he wanted the film to be shown at Kent State. So, about a month later, as part of the university’s annual commemoration of May 4, 1970, the documentary film w...

Douglas Scott McKenzie with Amy Reynolds and Todd Diacon at May 4 Commemoration 2023

Tears, hugs, happy reunions and solemn remembrance marked the 53rd Commemoration of May 4, 1970. Donald Scott Mackenzie (center), one of the nine students wounded in the tragedy, walks with Kent State University President Todd Diacon (right) and Amy Reynolds, dean of Kent State's College of Communication and Information (CCI).  Mac...

2023 May 4 Candlelight Vigil

A prayer was read in Hebrew at the B'nai B'rith Hillel Marker on the May 4 memorial site as part of the annual candlelight walk and vigil on May 3. The silent walk around campus begins each year at at 11 p.m. and takes about 60 minutes. Afterward, at midnight, the vigil begins as one person with a candle stands in the each of the four...

Assistant Professor Erica Eckert, Ph.D., presents the Jerry M. Lewis Lecture on May 3, 2023 in the Kent Student Center Ballroom.

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 research she conducted to answer this question was selected as the prese...

Professor Emeritus Jerry M. Lewis speaks at the inaugural luncheon established to honor his legacy as a May 4, 1970, historian and advocate.

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., presenting “Where Were the Administrators? A Student Affairs Perspective on May 4, 1970,” as this year’s s...

Kent State University community members and visitors gather on the Kent State Commons for the annual May 4 Commemoration to honor those who were killed and wounded on May 4, 1970.

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. “The Power of Our...

Attendees - Kent State community members and visitors gather on the Kent State Commons for the annual May 4 Commemoration to honor those who were killed and wounded on May 4, 1970.

Kent State University has scheduled a variety of programs, events and exhibits for this year’s remembrance of May 4, 1970, to honor the four students who were killed, the nine students who were wounded and the countless others whose lives were forever changed when the Ohio National Guard fired on Kent State students during an anti-war prot...

A student visits the new May 4 exhibit from the Wick Poetry Center in the Kent State Student Center

A new interactive exhibit from the Wick Poetry Center that encourages visitors to explore the history of student protest through the Kent State shootings, has opened in the Kent Student Center as part of May 4 commemoration activities. The exhibit, Armed With Our Voices, seeks to show the grave consequences that result when communica...

A marker on the spot where Kent State student Alan Canfora was standing when he was shot on May 4, 1970.

This year’s return of in-person events to commemorate the Kent State shootings will include the dedication of bronze markers placed on the spots where nine students were wounded by the Ohio National Guard during a student anti-war protest on May 4, 1970. Markers designating the locations of each of the four students killed – Allison Kraus...

Members of the Kent State University community participate in the annual May 4 Candlelight Walk and Vigil, a tradition that began in 1971 to remember and honor the students killed and wounded on May 4, 1970.

For the first time since 2019, Kent State University will remember May 4, 1970, with its return to an in-person, annual commemoration to honor the four students who were killed, the nine students who were wounded and the countless others whose lives were forever changed when the Ohio National Guard fired on Kent State students during an an...