Student Issue, 1970—Strike in Protest of Cambodian Invasion

A three-day strike, May 7–9, was held by students and faculty members as a protest against American forces being sent into Cambodia and in direct reaction to the May 4 killing of four students by Ohio National Guardsmen on the Kent State University Campus. Chancellor Weaver endorsed the nonviolent strike being planned. A memorial service was held at Circle Park for the four Kent State students who were killed, and a kickoff rally attracted more than six hundred students at Presidential Court. The strike led to cancellation of some classes, “teach-in” efforts by some faculty, and acts of vandalism, including the firebombing of the Music Annex (with minimal damage), a fire in the Stadium Hall Dormitory, breaking of windows in the Humanities Building and Stokely Athletics Building, and mutilation of a thirty-foot-long mural in the university center.

The Strike Committee declared the strike an unqualified success, with 70 to 80 percent of the student body participating in some way. In the summer of 1970, the board of trustees enacted a policy to provide classroom instruction for students who wished to attend (classes were not to be cancelled as long as some students wanted to attend).

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  • Title Student Issue, 1970—Strike in Protest of Cambodian Invasion
  • Author
  • Keywords Student Issue, 1970—Strike in Protest of Cambodian Invasion
  • Website Name Volopedia
  • Publisher University of Tennessee Libraries
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  • Access Date July 20, 2025
  • Original Published Date
  • Date of Last Update October 16, 2018