Campus Antiwar Network History

Statement in support of Dave Airhart

From Elizabeth Wrigley-Field, national coordinating committee, Campus Antiwar Network

The Ohio police and the Kent State University administration couldn’t have picked a clearer way to show where they stand. A student, and veteran of this war, engages in “disorderly conduct” with a peaceful anti-war protest. The military recruiter who then assaulted him, and the right-winger who verbally assaulted and spit at Kent State students holding anti-war signs, receive no punishment. Presumably they were very “orderly” in their assaults on Airhart, and on free speech.

Kent State has the opportunity to set a different kind of legacy for itself. In 1970, it was the site of one of the worst incidents of repression against student activists of an earlier generation, when on May 4, four students were shot by National Guardsmen at an anti-war protest at the school. Ten days later, two students protesting the Kent State killings, and racism at their own school, were murdered by police at Jackson State University. This is the history of repression against student activists in this country. Today, Kent State could set a new legacy. The Kent State Anti-War Committee is showing how students of a new generation can stand up to the violent policies of our government — in Airhart’s case, policies he is familiar with in the most firsthand way possible. Their example, and their right to dissent, should be embraced by their university.

Like the generation before us, students today are learning that when we stand up to the war machine, we quickly run up against the limits of our free speech. But we are also learning that when we stand together, we can defend our own rights and win. Kent State will join the ranks of Seattle Central Community College, City College New York, San Francisco State University, George Mason University, Holyoke Community College, and others — ranks where students have compelled their administrations to back off threats to our rights. We have a movement behind us — of students, veterans, teachers, parents, and community members, in all combinations. We will defend Dave Airhart’s protest. And we will not stop until his message of peace, not war, becomes a reality.