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Today’s college students don’t know meaning of ‘free speech’

Mary Ann Vecchio, 14 at the time, screams as she kneels next to the body of student Jeffrey Miller at Kent State on May 4, 1970. Ohio National Guard troops fired 67 shots. When the firing ended, nine students lay wounded, and four others had been killed. Two of the students who died had not participated in the protests.
Mary Ann Vecchio, 14 at the time, screams as she kneels next to the body of student Jeffrey Miller at Kent State on May 4, 1970. Ohio National Guard troops fired 67 shots. When the firing ended, nine students lay wounded, and four others had been killed. Two of the students who died had not participated in the protests. AP file AP

In 1970, the Ohio National Guard were sent onto Kent State campus to quell student demonstrations against the escalation of the Vietnam War.

The main objective was to prevent students from gathering into groups of more than two or three because of the volatility of the students’ speech.

Their speech was considered hostile, provocative and unjust.

I submit present-day students have taken on the guise of the Ohio National Guard – inhibiting free thought and speech on campuses by those they have judged hostile. How pathetic.

“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Elizabeth J. Grossmayer, Fresno

This story was originally published April 13, 2017 at 12:11 PM with the headline "Today’s college students don’t know meaning of ‘free speech’."

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