40 years after the Kent State shootings, the impact in Madison is remembered

At UW-Madison, the Kent State shootings â?? which occurred 40 years ago Tuesday â?? helped prompt one of the most turbulent periods in the universityâ??s history. Hearing of the shootings hundreds of miles away, UW-Madison students responded with rallies calling for an end to the Vietnam War. For days in early May 1970, they torched buildings, broke windows and threw rocks at police. Police used tear gas liberally and the governor called for the National Guard to occupy campus. A group of four young men bombed the Army Math Research Center in Sterling Hall in August 1970, killing a young physics researcher. Students and faculty were angry over the expansion of the war in Cambodia, said Jeremi Suri, UW-Madison history professor. Kent State, and subsequent deaths of two students at an anti-war protest at Jackson State University, triggered a growing unrest.