On May 4, 1970, the Ohio National Guard opened fire on students at Kent State University (KSU), killing four and wounding nine. Although this event marked a watershed moment in American culture and the start of a decline in activism related to the war in Vietnam, its place in higher education history is not well-understood. This paper traces the…

Kent State University (KSU) has been associated with campus activism history since May 4, 1970. Using a case study approach, we interrogated if and how KSU student affairs administrators' approach to activism has changed in the intervening decades and how the legacy of the shootings informed their practice during the Black Lives Matters protests…