I read with interest the editors’ blog on apathy at Boston University and other college campuses by Matt Negrin and Jason Millman (“A changing Free Press,” Sept. 17). The writers highlight the zenith of such protest as culminating in the first issue of The Daily Free Press — after the first and only time the majority of colleges closed as a result of the “Kent State riots.” I ask Negrin and Millman to reflect on what I believe was an innocent yet damaging choice to define what happened at Kent State in May 1970 as “riots.” As someone who has studied the shootings at Kent State for more than 37 years, I take exception to the use of “riots” in describing the tragic events at Kent State, in which four students were killed by the Ohio National Guard.
As a professor of rhetoric, I am keenly aware of what Kenneth Burke describes as the “behavioral directive” of language. Burke, who believed language to be humankind’s ability to connect and make sense of the world we share, argues that the symbols we use to tell a story reflect values and motives and dictate behavior to our audiences.
The word “riot” carries strong pejorative power. Within the historical context of Kent State, “riots” and “rioters” have been the popular word choice of those who seek to incorrectly argue the shootings were precipitated by the students. This finding and rhetorical myth is inconsistent with the facts. President Richard Nixon’s report, The President’s Commission on Campus Unrest, found the shootings “unwarranted, inexcusable and unnecessary.” The Justice Department Summary of the FBI Report concludes the self-defense argument provided by the guard for firing their guns, which broke every rule of engagement in their manual, was “fabricated subsequent to the event.” Ironically, the only investigative body that chose to describe the weekend events as “riots” and students as “rioters” was the Portage County Grand Jury Report, which, due to its bias, inflammatory language and unsubstantiated claims, was ordered to be destroyed by higher courts in Ohio.
I ask Negrin and Millman, as accomplished journalists, to be aware of the power of language and to be judicious in their word choice in the future.
J. Gregory Payne
Political Communication Department
Emerson College
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
