Today marks the 40th anniversary of the massacre at Kent State University, where Ohio National Guardsmen sprayed tear gas and then opened fire on students protesting the escalation of the Vietnam war into Cambodia.  Four students were killed, and eleven others wounded.    John Filo, a Kent photojournalism student, took an iconic photograph of a 14-year-old runaway, Mary Ann Vecchio, kneeling beside the body of 20 year old Jeffrey Miller.  The photo appeared in the New York Times, as well as various other media outlets, and earned a Pulitzer Prize for Filo in 1971.

Georgia Straight, an anti-establishment alternative newspaper from Vancouver, Canada, published a front page story on the Kent State Massacre. Newspaper from the Alternative Press Collection.

Following the massacre at Kent State, the faculty wrote a resolution condemning the use of violence on their campus.  Kent State University closed for the remainder of the semester.

Resolution passed by faculty at Kent State University, May 5, 1970. From the Alternative Press Collection.

Hundreds of thousands of university students across the country protested the use of violence by the National Guard, as well as the escalating violence in Vietnam.  A  campus wide strike was held at the University of Connecticut on May 7, 1970.

Flyer for the University of Connecticut Student Strike, May 7, 1970. From the Alternative Press Collection.