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Special Collections and Archives
Correspondence · Keeping Kent Open
Special Collections and Archives
Correspondence · Keeping Kent Open
Correspondence
At the Faculty Senate meeting on May 7, 1970, a motion was made to “arrange to complete the academic work of the quarter by the best means possible,” which was passed unanimously. Shortly thereafter, professors began contacting students to inform them of how they would be able to finish their courses and receive final grades.
In the upper-left example, Professor of Political Science Murray I. Fishel writes to students explaining that they can choose to give themselves an “A, B, C, or Pass,” but stresses that, regardless of the grade, it is essential for them to keep learning on their own and to express their thoughts to the University on the events of May 4, 1970.
This news article details some of the various ways in which classes continued after the university closed, including using Kenyon College’s lab to complete a chemistry course, meeting professors in their homes, and even holding a class at a buffet luncheon in nearby Tallmadge.
However, the most common method of communication was mail; according to the article, “thousands of additional dollars were spent on mailouts.”
Yet, there weren't a significant number of students who dropped out, and in some cases, students felt that they received more individualized attention and developed stronger relationships with their professors throughout the last weeks of the semester.
Letters from Professors
Sheila Tabakoff contacted her Art History students through letters giving them the option to choose how their final grades would be determined. She even offered that students could come to her house to discuss “art or anything else” during the time that class normally would have met.
In this letter, Professors Dennis Cooke and Eugene Wenninger write to their GCI Environmental Pollution students asking them to complete the course by mailing in a statement on given topics surrounding the course that should arrive by the week of June 8.
They also note that Allison Krause and Jeffrey Miller were students in this class and that three others in the course were injured. The professors ask for students to communicate their opinions on how “Kent State can reopen under circumstances which permit dissent and academic freedom, and at the same time provide peace and safety for all.”
