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Not long after arriving in ����Թ� in 2012, I began exploring the library’s . One of the first accounts I listened to was from , a biology professor. What struck me was how he described Friday, May 1, 1970, as just a regular day – he had dropped off the department’s colloquium speaker at the University Inn when, in Adams’ words, “all hell broke loose.” He wondered how this visiting professor felt having flown out on Saturday morning while everyone else in ����Թ� stayed and lived through the next three days.

This story highlights the unpredictability of trauma – who experiences it and who leaves just in time. It illustrates the difference between lifelong impacts and a story one casually shares at a cocktail party.

In my research, I use both quantitative and qualitative methods. Qualitative approaches involve talking to people to understand their experiences. 

With May 4th, while I cannot ask questions directly, I can listen to people’s stories through the oral history collection. 

These accounts don’t answer all our questions or provide an all-seeing view of the past, but they offer a deeper understanding of these events – how it felt to experience them as a child, parent, professor, librarian, landlord, business owner, guardsman or student.

These oral histories were never intended to diminish the experiences of witnesses like Professor Emeritus , who saw the shooting and helped students afterward, or those injured and killed. Rather, they acknowledge that the events affected thousands of others who called ����Թ� home in 1970. People were scared – whether they should have been, what genuinely posed a threat – these aren’t judgments for me to make. Instead, hearing their stories provides new insights about what it felt like to live in ����Թ� on May 4, 1970.

Mapping May 4

My project of sharing these experiences grew significantly when I partnered with Sara Koopman, a friend and colleague in the School of Peace and Conflict Studies. I described my idea of "Mapping May 4" to her over dinner one night as we discovered a shared interest in how cities heal after collective trauma. 

With assistance from graduate and undergraduate assistants, along with then-director Mindy Farmer and Lori Boes at the May 4 Visitors Center, we listened to every story and identified every place mentioned.

We cataloged 474 locations, creating a spreadsheet of stories and a collection of short audio clips. features a satellite image of ����Թ� from April 1970, historical photos of mapped locations, and opportunities for people to contribute their own stories and photos. 

With funding from Ohio Humanities, we added exhibits at both the ����Թ� Historical Society Museum and the May 4 Visitors Center. These installations, designed to connect both town and campus communities, include a large map with photos and audio buttons from oral histories, plus iPads for visitors to navigate our website.

Opportunity to Present

My upcoming Jerry Lewis Lecture on May 2 will briefly overview the Mapping May 4 project but will focus primarily on my research findings from listening to these stories. I'll center my discussion around the concept of home – what that means in a college town like ����Թ� and how it shaped the experiences of those who lived here. So many residents were forever changed by these events.

After we launched the website and I drafted my research article, I discovered a 2020 recording from , founder of the oral history project. She described how after the shooting, she questioned whether to stay in ����Թ�. At 26, with her husband having just arrived the year before and plans to start a family, Sandy asked a community leader if she should remain. He told her, “Yes. Stay. Make this your home.” 

They did stay, and she recalls thinking, “It’s one person that can change everything for you in a place like this. And I think, I committed, if we were going to stay, that I was going to be that one person too.”

During my 13 years here, I've met many people like Sandy who are dedicated to our city, our campus, and most meaningfully, to strengthening connections between these overlapping communities that depend on each other. 

This commitment inspired me to establish a , where we create maps for local organizations and promote the use of local data in student and faculty research.

I often reflect on what it means to be faculty at ����Թ� State – to be part of another generation of caretakers for our students and for the memories of not just students from the past, but faculty, staff and everyone else who was here on May 4. To share their stories; to remember, to remind. I feel this responsibility deeply. 

Yet this responsibility isn’t a burden – it’s an absolute privilege, an honor to hear these stories, to learn what happened here, and to share this through research articles, conference presentations, and our website, which has now reached more than 21,000 visitors from 96 countries.