Spring of Dissent

Anti-ROTC poster

“The Spring of 1970 was the third quarter of my freshman year. It was an interesting time. As I recall, the protestors had pretty good hours. The protests didn’t start until around 10 a.m. and were finished for the day by 4 p.m. Consequently, I had no problem attending my 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. classes. During the first iteration of protests (before [four students were killed at] Kent State), a hippy-freak protester entered my 8 a.m. English class after it had started. He came in and sat down toward the back of the class. As the instructor was speaking, he lit up a joint. A few minutes after that, he moved to the front of the class and tried to incite the class to join the protest. At that time, one of [OSU Football Coach] Woody [Hayes]’s very big football players walked up to the individual and told him to leave and leave now. He left without saying another word. The class then proceeded normally.

One of the victims of the Kent State killings was named Jeffrey Glenn Miller. That is my name right down to the two “n’s” in Glenn. As the news of Kent State spread, my mother received several calls from friends and family across the country expressing condolences and/or looking for information. They knew that I was attending college in Ohio, but were unsure as to which institution.”

-Jeffrey G. Miller