Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

Figure 3. Draft papers are held up ready to be burnt (Ruffner, 1970).
The events that took place during the night of May 1, 1970 were the beginning of a downward spiral
which led to the National Guard occupying Kent State University’s campus, which would result in the
shooting of students by the National Guard three days later. There were many young adults, including
students of Kent State, clustered in and outside of the bars on North Water Street. Everyone in the bar was
not talking about Cambodia. Some people were watching a basketball game. As the night progressed, many
left the bars and were lingering about on North Water Street. Many acts of vandalism took place. When
local law enforcement drove past the congregation, which consisted of students and non-students, they
were heckled. “[B]onfires were built in the streets of downtown Kent, cars were stopped, police cars were
hit with bottles, and some store windows were broken” (Hensley & Lewis, 2010, p. 55). There were also
incidents of pilfering along with a great amount of property damage and some injuries. William Scranton,
the head of the President’s Commission on Campus Unrest, (1970) found that “In all, 47 windows in 15
establishments were broken, and two police officers were cut by missiles” (p. 243). A state of emergency
was issued by the mayor of Kent, Leroy Satrom. The bars were shut down at his demand. Obviously, this
put a lot more people out on the street and made them even more irate. It also raised the ire of those who
were not involved in the destruction. “This arbitrary action threw a new mass of young people into the
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