William Wilen, Oral History

Transcribed by Rhonda Rinehart

I'm Bill Wilen. I'm a professor of education in the College of Education. My address is 404 White Hall. I guess the first question to respond to is, where was I May 4, 1970? I was at Penn State, in State College Pennsylvania, working on my doctorate. I vaguely remember hearing about the shootings between classes that afternoon. I was especially concerned because the previous month -- April of 1970 -- I had signed my contract to begin teaching at Kent State. Needless to say, I had a very strange feeling come over me; wondering just where was I going to. That evening, after hearing more about it on the news, that the University was closed; wondering if the University will be open when I get there. Maybe even more of a self-serving way, to perhaps reopen my search with other universities rather than going to Kent State. In fact, my in-laws, their first comment was, how could my wife and I and small child go to Kent State after what had happened there? I had interviews with administrators in Chicago in March of 1970 -- I guess that was February of 1970 -- and then visited the campus at their invitation in March, and was offered a contract in April; and of course, May 4th comes along. So I was not here for the shootings. At Penn State they were having a lot of problems, too, as every major university; the most serious seemed to be firebombing; buses of State Police and National Guard who had come on campus to break up SDS rallies.

I arrived on campus in August of 1970, ready to start with a group of student teachers that were to go out. I was hired as a generalist working in teacher education, supervising student teachers; which is what I had been doing on a graduate assistantship at Kent State -- at Penn State. My biggest problem through that first year -- the first two semesters -- was convincing student teachers to stay out of the faculty lounges because of some problems that had been coming up whereby teachers were confronting students with their very strong negative feelings about Kent State and the happenings there. My major problems were trying to diffuse situations that had occurred between my student teachers and faculty in the schools in which they were doing their student teaching experience.

My major reminiscence of May 4th, 1970 -- other than being at Penn State -- was through the first anniversary in May 1971. I dressed in slacks and sport shirt and walked around campus with my camera, taking as many pictures as I could, feeling that I wanted to know more about May '70 through that memorial service. I had felt that I really wasn't a part of things but should have been. Because my students were here, my colleagues and the faculty in the College of Education had been here; the administrators had been here, my neighbors had been here -- I wasn't. And I wanted to find out more. And I thought I would take a full active part in May '71 events. And walking around campus as I did, I felt a lot of stares from people because the rumor was that the FBI and plain clothes police had infiltrated the crowd. So I felt these stares and obviously I looked out of place dressed not as a student, and certainly not as a faculty, and I was only 28 years old. So I was not of the image of a faculty member, and I couldn't stand out that way. I probably did look like an FBI agent.

I remember Ginsberg reading poetry -- first time I had been acquainted with his style. I remember the Mayday signs; students selling the black memorial armbands. The signs in the many dormitory windows -- some very humorous, others much more serious and appropriate for the occasion. Julian Bond was the speaker at that first anniversary, along with Dick Gregory; very impressed by their words of wisdom, and remorse for what happened here. I participated in the candlelight vigil, not the full evening, but the early part of the evening until where the students stood -- the representative students stood at the sites of the killings. Very impressed with how this was being regarded -- this whole event was regarded in history. The folk singers the next day -- the speakers, including Bob White who was president. Seeing the protestors, many of them dressed in the protesting garb that I had been used to seeing at Kent State -- at Penn State -- one with the Nixon false face who was getting a lot of attention. Other speakers -- Mark Lane; and then the big demonstration at Rockwell Hall. Rumor was that they were going to break in -- and I think Rockwell at that time was the new housing of the ROTC after it had burnt down the previous year. A lot of speakers there, a lot of inciting kind of speeches; but nothing happened. Constantly the helicopters circling overhead, serving as a source of intimidation. I remember the sculpture, the first one I think, that was created by the art faculty member with the four gun barrells turned up in a slight arc.

So, that's how I experienced May 4th a year later. And I thought I would just share that as a way to help all of us become a greater part of history. Thank you.

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