Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered at Kent State University in Ohio on Saturday to protest the war in Gaza. This was exactly 54 years since a similar demonstration on campus ended with the deaths of four students.
Activists were silent, but not unnoticed. They gathered in a semicircle around a stage in the Kent Commons, where speakers were commemorating the events of May 4, 1970. James Rhodes, then the governor of Ohio, called in the National Guard to quell demonstrations against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. . The troops opened fire. Four people were killed: Alison Krauss, William Schroeder, Sandra Schuer, and Jeffrey Miller. Several other people were injured.
The campus still bears the scars of the 1970 mass shooting. An illuminated pillar marks the exact spot where his four students were murdered, a tragedy immortalized in the song “Ohio” performed by the folk-rock quartet Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. I left it.
In a speech commemorating Saturday's victims, Sophia Swengel, a sophomore and president of the May 4th Task Force, a group formed in 1975 to protect the legacy of students, also spoke of protesters. admitted. Many held signs calling for the university to divest from arms manufacturers and military contractors.
“Students are once again standing up against bloodshed abroad,” she said, referring to Israel's attack on Gaza, which followed the Hamas-led offensive on Oct. 7. ” added Ms. Swengel.
Some of the student demands in 1970 included abolishing the ROTC program, ending the university's relationship with police training programs, and halting research and development of liquid crystals used in heat detectors to guide bombs dropped in Cambodia. was included.
Now, protesters at Kent State University are calling on the university to divest its portfolio of instruments of war. “Universities profit from the war, and they were claiming in '69 and '70 that the university also profited from the war,” said Camille Tynan, 31, a doctoral student. He was a political science student and met with school administrators to discuss the sale.
Kent State University can't end the war in Gaza, but “what the university can control is its own investment portfolio,” said the student, a member of Students for Justice in Palestine, who graduated with a degree in computer science. says Yaseen Shaikh (19), who is preparing to attend.
Tinnin and Shaikh, along with two other students, met with Kent State Senior Vice President of Finance and Administration Mark Polatajko on Dec. 4, according to a statement from Kent State spokeswoman Rebecca Murphy. The contents of the meeting were confirmed. In an interview before Saturday's protest, Tinin said Polataco shared the university's investment portfolio with the four activists during the meeting. He said activists who reviewed the portfolio found it included investments in weapons manufacturers.
On Saturday, Ms. Swengel paid tribute to the nationwide student demonstrations against the war in Gaza, saying the encampments and demonstrations “stand as living monuments to genocide and students' willingness to stand up for what they believe.” “
In a statement emailed to reporters, Ms. Murphy said the university “supports everyone's First Amendment rights to free speech and peaceful assembly.”
“Consistent with our core values, we encourage open dialogue and respectful civil discussion in an inclusive environment,” she added.
