Still More Wounds at Kent State

An old wound in American society has been painfully reopened. The scene: Ohio's Kent State University, where National Guardsmen killed four students and injured nine others during an antiwar protest seven years ago. Last week about 100 activists stepped up their demonstrations against the ground breaking for a $6 million gymnasium annex to be built only 40 to 60 yards from the area where the shootings took place. Said one protester: "This site should not be desecrated."

Twice, Civil Rights Lawyer William Kunstler and Activist Comedian Dick Gregory spoke to protest rallies. In May 200 demonstrators staged a campus march, and some of them pitched tents on the famous hill. They vowed to stay until the bulldozers pushed them out. So far the university's trustees have reject ed the protesters' demands to pick another site. At week's end retiring President Glenn Olds ordered the eviction of the 50 to 100 tent dwellers, many of whom are not students. They planned to resist.

The university defends its construction as necessary to meet federal requirements for women's athletic facilities, and claims that they can be built at least expense at the controversial site. Demonstrators vow to continue their opposition if construction starts. Though there has been no great swell of support from the 7,000 students now on campus, Robert Hart, a protest leader, predicts: "We'll have pickets outside the construction fence. This will go on." For his part, President Olds insists: "Whatever we do, we will not risk any violence."

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