“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. For the most part I kept notes on my impressions of what I thought was going on that spring on campus and in my life. My concerns were more in completing my work for a degree rather than becoming embroiled in issues that were of importance to other students and non-students. The excitement for me in early April was the 10-day Apollo mission to the moon.
 
However, on the 29th of April groups of students attempted to close the entrance to the campus on Neil Ave and 11th to make their demands heard. Two busloads of state police were called to stand guard at the gates, now opened again. A fight took place between groups of students, which grew larger and angrier in time. As the police moved in, they were pelted with bottles and rocks, injuring some of them. Tear gas eventually dispersed the crowd.
 
Students and non-students rioted all night, resulting in gas being dropped from one or two helicopters onto the unruly crowds. The National Guard was deployed, and [they] were treated little different than the police by the crowd. This must have lasted all night, as the next day the campus at 17th and High was trashed with bottles, rocks, and gas canisters.

During the day the Guard with their vehicles had now circled the Oval. They too were being pelted with bottles and rocks. 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.
 
The campus was officially closed for about two weeks. I was able to convince the police at an entrance to let me in to work on my dissertation. One of the last demonstrations that I can remember was that of May 21 where approximately 5,000 students gathered on the Oval to listen to the concessions that the Administration made. Most groups of students appeared to be satisfied with the concessions.

The anarchists and non-students, however, were not finished, as in the early afternoon they started to block buildings and the main library again. It seemed futile to them as there was little support from the mass student body. The rioters then took to High Street, blocking traffic, smashing store windows and looting the stores. The following day the National Guard was called in again. They and the state police checked IDs of people two blocks from campus entrances, preventing outsiders from gaining access to the campus again. The final Guardsmen left campus on May 29.”

-Gerhard Spory