Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

created the curfew, was issued by Mayor Satrom on May 1 and was made a formality on Saturday, May 2.
There was a lot of confusion about the curfew because the city of Kent and the university had different
curfew times.
The Vice President of Kent State University, Robert Matson, met with Lieutenant Barnette of the
National Guard and was informed by Barnette that “if the National Guard were called, they would make no
distinction between city and campus and would take jurisdictional control of the entire area” (U.S.
President’s Commission on Campus Unrest, 1970, p. 245). What Lieutenant Barnette had told Matson
conflicted with their originally understood duties: “The National Guard’s concept of operations in
controlling civil disorders is to support rather than replace local and State [sic] law enforcement
agencies” (Grant & Hill, 1974, p. 15). As a result, faculty and officials of Kent State were very hesitant and
reluctant to have the National Guard come to Kent.
There were rumors that students would be assembling that evening. This made Kent State officials
uneasy because they did not want a repeat of what happened the previous night. Eszterhas and Hill
described rumors about weapons, especially guns, radical Weathermen, threats of the city being set ablaze,
and rumors that the water of the city would be contaminated with LSD (as cited in Hensley & Lewis,
2010). Meanwhile, a pamphlet was passed out to Kent State students misinforming them of the curfew
time. It told them the time of curfew for the city and did not explain that the university’s curfew was
different than the city’s curfew. The pamphlet also stated that peaceful assemblies were still permitted.
The major rumor was that people were plotting to do major damage any building that was military
related as well as the post office (U.S. President’s Commission on Campus Unrest, 1970). Mayor Satrom
wanted to utilize the police if any of these rumors were to come true, if any foul play occurred, or if
anything went awry. However, local law enforcement officers would be unavailable. This resulted in
Satrom finally enlisting assistance from the National Guard, despite his reluctance to do so. After the
necessary steps were taken, the National Guard made their way from Akron to Kent. At about 7:00 p.m.,
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