Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

negative attitudes towards the National Guard would fester over the next couple of days and would feed
into the shootings.
May 3, 1970 is a day that is extremely crucial in comprehending why the National Guard would shoot
the students at Kent State University the following day. May 3 demonstrated the uneasy feelings that the
students of Kent State University had towards authority figures, especially the National Guard. It also
demonstrated the attitude of government officials towards the protesting students. There were some key
factors and events that occurred on May 3 that were necessary to comprehend why the shootings occurred.
The president of the university was making his return back to Kent. Some faculty members and
students were absolutely opposed to the students being suspended for their actions in previous
days. There was an investigation held among faculty of Kent State University. The most important
principle explained by the end of that investigation was that “[r]easons should be given to justify a
discretionary decision, for to decide an issue without giving the reasons upon which the decision is
based approaches autocracy and is incompatible with the educational objectives of the academic
community” (Kent Chapter of the American Association of University Professors. Report of the
Special Committee of Inquiry as cited in Michener, 1970, p. 237).
There was confusion among people about those codes that were supposed to be practiced by faculty
members, especially in the cases where students:
1. Advocated that President White be shot.
2. Openly announced that they intended to destroy the university.
3. Habitually called campus police to their face, “motherfucking pigs.”
4. Openly threatened to kill campus policemen.
5. Distributed leaflets calling for the assassination of all policemen at random.
6. Threatened to blow up buildings.
7. Warned that if disciplinary action were taken against them, the sky would be the limit.
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