Beneath the pagoda on the campus of Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, a federal jury last week surveyed the site where on May 4, 1970, four Kent State students were slain by gunfire and nine were wounded during a campus protest against U.S. military involvement in Cambodia. Now, 4 1/2 years after the event that symbolized the agony of a nation divided, eight of the 800 Ohio National Guardsmen on duty at Kent State that day are on trial in Cleveland. Among the charges: assaulting and intimidating the demonstrators and depriving them of their civil rights.

Seven of the defendants, who claim they were in danger of bodily harm when they opened fire on student demonstrators, accompanied the jurors to Kent State last week. None seemed particularly happy to be back on campus. "It certainly brought back a lot of unpleasant memories," said Barry Morris, 30, of Kent. Added another defendant, James D. McGee, 28, of Ravenna, Ohio: "I'll be glad to leave here."

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