Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

would bring a machete, ice pick, or other weapons that were used to destroy the firefighters’ hose to a rally
that was supposed to be peaceful (U.S. President’s Commission on Campus Unrest, 1970). That is crucial,
because the incidences committed by non-students helped create tension with the National Guard, which
resulted in the shooting of students on May 4.
Figure 4. The Kent St[a]te Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) building fire burns out late Saturday night
(Ruffner, 1970).
There was even more destruction that occurred on campus that evening; however, if authority figures
had not been present to diffuse the situation, there probably would have been even more damage and
destruction:
A faculty marshal dissuaded half a dozen persons from setting fire to a small information booth at
the edge of campus…a group of about ten wrecked a telephone booth and tried to uproot a bus
stop sign. Others dragged an air compressor from a construction site into the street, piled up
sawhorses and debris, and built a bonfire (U.S. President’s Commission on Campus Unrest, 1970,
p. 251).
The general belief was that most or all of the students were bent on wreaking havoc on Kent. However,
this is far from the truth. A lot of students did wreak havoc. However, there were some students that
steered clear of that and believed that they would get nowhere and that nobody would listen to them if they
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