On the worst day in May as the acrid smell of tear gas permeated the air, I tried to go to my psychology lecture (my days to graduation were ticking), and I was forced out of the classroom building by the National Guard. … The nervous guardsmen were ordered to gather the students on the Oval. There were rumors that snipers were on top of campus buildings! No one knew anything. We were held on the Oval for what seemed like hours. … Finally, one old history professor got a microphone and tried to talk to the scared, nervous crowd on the Oval. He did not yell or scream that day. He just talked and talked and he wasn’t afraid. I think the crowd could sense that. He was the only speaker not greeted with boos. [read more]

… It was very disconcerting to graduating seniors in particular, because once the campus closed down, it was heavily rumored that it would not re-open and it would be a lost quarter. … Eventually, campus re-opened and we were able to continue with our classes and graduation. However, another important aspect for me was taken away: I had a goal to raise my GPA to a certain level for future schooling considerations, but all classes were graded as pass-fail, only that quarter. All GPAs remained the same, unless a class was failed. That hurt me personally more than anything. ….
       The presence of the National Guardsmen was obvious, but to a lot of us they did not pose a threat. … But I had parked over by Lane and Neil [one day], and one evening on my way to the car, I had to break into a dead run to avoid being trampled by a large group of students charging down a side street from the Oval. They were being forced back by tear gas, which I got a good dose of just running past the street. I did NOT want to be a part of any of the protest groups, but I inadvertently became a part just trying to escape. [read more]

In May, 1970 I was a graduate student at Ohio State, just finishing my Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry. ... [M]y activities were localized in and around my Evans lab, the chemistry library and my room in Jones Graduate Tower. … The folks on my floor of Jones Tower were very close to one another and remain so to the present. It was not clear what was going to happen to us as a result of this disruption [campus shutdown] in our academic career. So, we did what any group of students would do under the circumstances: We partied. [W]e started by heading to a local theater and seeing a movie made for such times, Mash. After the movie we found our way to someone’s home where we drank some beer and watched the … NBA playoff game. I doubt any of us had a problem sleeping after that very therapeutic evening, though we had to leave OSU by noon the next day. [read more]

I do remember the day hundreds of students rushed the administration building with arms raised but their "weapons" were handfuls of marshmallows. The guards did not react. There was no lack of protesters on all causes at the time, they were everywhere. [read more]

As things heated up on campus, police cars with their windows taped were zooming around, and National Guard sandbag emplacements were popping up at strategic locations.  At one point, I recall helicopters dropping tear gas and pepper gas canisters as we ragged (style of the day) bunch of protesters darted from building to building, gagging from the fumes.  … It was in this atmosphere that [my roommate Bob], totally oblivious to the politics and the student insurrection around him, went to south campus on Neil Avenue to a florist to get flowers for his gal. And after completing his purchase of a fine bouquet, and I am sure with that immensely satisfied, innocent farm-boy grin, he ventured out to return to the dorm. Except he encountered a swarm of activists who were struggling to close the gates across Neil Avenue. And the police, trying to prevent the closure of campus, came storming in, firing wooden knee-knockers and more tear gas. And poor [Bob] got caught up in the swarm and was knocked and gassed along with the rest of the rabble.  [Bob] eventually got back to dorm, but worse for wear, stinking of gas, and with his flowers bedraggled. [read more]

I was in Army ROTC at the time.  At the end of the year we had this big event where all the cadets were in rank on the military field and we were to be addressed by some visiting general.  While we were in ranks, a couple of hundred protesters walked onto the field chanting anti-war slogans and walked in and out of the rows of cadets in formation.  I just thought to myself how we (both protesters and cadets) were all students at the same college but just had different views of the world..[read more]

I was a 21-year-old prospective optometry student driving with my parents to interview for a spot in the College of Optometry for the fall semester.  On the way, my parents and I were anxiously listening to the car radio about the unrest at university campuses in Ohio and the governor's decision to close some campuses in the state.  I had already been accepted in the College of Optometry, but needed to complete the interview to secure my acceptance.  … As we finally approached Ohio State's campus we saw hundreds of National Guardsman and military vehicles of all kinds surrounding the entire university.  Not knowing what to expect, we simply approached one of the entrances to campus and talked to an officer who listened to my story.  Somehow the officer got a hold of Dr. Herb Mote, who was a member of the admission staff at the Optometry college at that time.  Dr. Mote was supposed to conduct my interview that day, and he convinced the guards to let us pass through on to the campus.  It was an eerie scene on campus with no students, no traffic; nothing but a military presence.  … [T]he rest, as they say, is history.  I attended the university next fall and graduated with my OD degree in 1974 and have been a practicing optometrist for the last 36 years.  However, of all my many trips to my alma mater, I will never forget that spring trip of 1970.[read more]

I was a student finishing my dissertation for a PhD in Zoology during the spring of 1970. I lived off campus and by car made my daily trip to campus. … I found that there was more excitement witnessing events outside than being cooped up in a research lab. So, periodically I went out to check on things. However, an incident that I will never forget was when I may have been 20 feet from one of the  Jeeps on the Oval. A Guardsman was standing in the jeep, with his rifle in hand.  Someone behind me threw an orange at the Guardsman, hitting him in the chest. The “student” ran back into the crowd while I stood there as an observer, watching the Guardsman turn his rifle at me. That was a sobering experience as I questioned my sanity for being where I was. The following week four students were killed by Guardsmen at Kent State. [read more]

“Protests started in earnest in April of that spring and reached a peak when the weather turned nice (coincidental, isn’t it?). When the four students were killed at Kent State, all hell broke loose. There seemed to be daily protests which turned into violence by the second week of May…By the time students came back to school in late May, the quarter was a shambles in terms of academic objectives. All students were given a Pass or Fail in their classes. Everyone just wanted to go home… I, personally, can hardly stand to read or hear about the events of that period… I can feel it in the pit of my stomach whenever discussion or a TV documentary covers those events.” [read more]

I have told my students (grades 7 through 12) over the years, that students ended the Vietnam War. We ended the war. [read more]