American Sociological Review 78(5) 749 –772 © American Sociological

“Seventeen students were killed on college campuses by police between 1968 and 1971, but it was the four deaths at Kent State University on May 4, 1970, that galvanized a nation. ” (Biliczky 2010a) The shootings followed three days of campus unrest, including vandalism to downtown businesses, demonstrations that shut city streets, and burning of the campus Army ROTC building (Kifner 1970a). The Ohio National Guard arrived to restore order on May 2, and May 3 passed without event. A noon rally on May 4, originally planned to protest the U.S. invasion of Cambodia, drew additional students protesting the Guard’s presence on campus.1 When the Guard attempted to disperse the crowd, students responded by throwing rocks; the Guard launched tear gas canisters at the protestors. Protestors moved over a hill to the Prentice Hall parking lot and the Guard followed into a field nearby. After a standoff during which several guardsmen knelt and aimed their guns but did not fire, the Guard moved back up the hill. At the top of the hill, 28 guardsmen turned, knelt, and fired