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MINUTES

30th May 4 Commemoration Committee
Communications Subcommittee
Minutes of the Fourth Meeting
Friday,October 8, 1999
12:30 p.m.
Williamson Alumni Center Conference Room

Attendance
Announcements
Symposium Subcommittee
Program Coordinating Subcommittee
Student Relations Subcommittee
Budget Subcommittee
Community Relations Subcommittee
Family Relations Subcommittee
Communications Subcommittee
Fifth Annual Violence Symposium

MEMBERS PRESENT: Larry Andrews, Steve Bancik, Carole Barbato, Gail Beveridge, Nancy Birk, Dick Bredemeier, David Brenner, Laura Davis, Margaret Garmon, Kim Gruenwald, Carole Harwood, John Jameson, Sally Kandel, Ron Kirksey, Kim Larson, Jerry Lewis, Jackie Parsons, Margaret Payne, Jeff Ritter, Nancy Schiappa, Sheryl Smith, Shirley Wajda. Guests: Mayor of Kent John Fender, May 4 Task Force Member Roy Skellenger.

MEMBERS UNABLE TO ATTEND: Pam Anderson, Ken Calkins, Ken Cushner, Dan Flannery, Tom Hensley, Roy Lilly, Julie Metham, Tim Moore, Carol Neff, David Odell-Scott, Gayle Ormiston, Michelle Touve-Gregorino, Danny Wallace.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The meeting was called to order at 12:31 p.m. by co-chair John Jameson. John introduced Jeff Ritter, a new committee member who would replace Kathy Bizek, who stepped down from her position with the May 4 Task Force. John also welcomed special guests John Fender, mayor of the City of Kent, and Roy Skellenger, a member of the May 4 Task Force.

John Jameson called for additions or corrections to the minutes of the Sept. 13, 1999 meeting. Shirley Wajda moved that the minutes be approved as presented, the motion was seconded by Larry Andrews and carried.

John Jameson also shared copies of the new University Calendar, noting that there is a photo of the candlelight vigil as the illustration for May. John Filo’s Pultizer Prize-winning photo had been included in the Akron Beacon Journal’s piece on “Capturing a Century.” The 30th May 4 Commemoration Committee was mentioned twice in President Cartwright’s State of the University address.

SYMPOSIUM SUBCOMMITTEE REPORT

John Jameson offered the symposium subcommittee report on behalf of Tom Hensley. The minutes of the Oct. 1 subcommittee meeting were distributed. The good news: noted New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis has accepted our offer to be the luncheon speaker on May 2. The symposium subcommittee is still seeking a keynote speaker. A proposal has been prepared inviting Maya Angelou to speak on Sunday, April 30; and we have not had a response to date. Sheryl Smith offered to be a resource for any member of the committee who is working with an agent to secure speakers.

The symposium subcommittee also recommended that honoraria/travel expenses be given to those whose papers were accepted for presentation.

PROGRAM COORDINATING SUBCOMMITTEE

Co-chairs Larry Andrews and Jerry Lewis presented the report for the program coordinating subcommittee. The committee is presently working on the following projects:
1) an ad for the Daily Kent Stater announcing the commemoration theme and availability of the 30th May 4 Commemoration grant applications. Draft copies were distributed. The ad will run for four weeks. The ad will be placed again early after the spring semester begins. It was also suggested that the ad/notice about funding be placed in the Record Courier and the Tree City Bulletin, the newsletter for residents in the City of Kent.
2) A master calendar of events for the 30th May 4 Commemoration. (The most current copy of the calendar of events is being distributed with these minutes.)
3) An event notification form to be used to incorporate all events into the master calendar.
4) A letter to deans, directors, chairs and student leaders announcing the theme and encouraging the university community to develop commemorative programs. A preliminary calendar of events, event notification form and a grant application will be enclosed with the letter.
5) A draft of a letter to encourage all instructional staff to integrate commemorative programming into curricular activities. Larry Andrews will discuss this draft with Provost Gaston and see if the provost would like to sign this letter.
6) A roster of speakers on May 4 and related topics.

Co-chair Jerry Lewis emphasized that the program coordinating subcommittee’s main function is to encourage others on campus to develop programs and to coordinate scheduling. The subcommittee will be meeting on Oct. 20 at noon in the Williamson Alumni Center.

Carole Barbato and Dick Bredemeier will staff a booth on behalf of the committee at the University Teaching Council on Oct. 22. Carole Harwood offered to help put together a packet of materials to distribute at the UTC.

Larry Andrews also encouraged all committee members interested in being included on the speakers roster to provide Steve Bancik with a couple of descriptive sentences about the areas they were most interested in addressing.


STUDENT RELATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE

Jeff Ritter commented that he did not think that the 30th Commemoration Committee should offer programs after 6 p.m. on May 3 and on May 4; since programs during this time have historically been coordinated by the May 4 Task Force student organization. It was noted that the Commemoration committee had purposely not scheduled any programming during that time, and would continue to be sensitive to this timeframe when scheduling programs.

The student relations subcommittee will meet on Wednesday, Oct. 13 in Room 320 of the Kent Student Center. Co-chair Sheryl Smith encouraged those who are scheduling programs and activities to try and schedule them at “student-friendly” times.

BUDGET SUBCOMMITTEE

Margaret Payne indicated that she was sharing a draft of the 30th May 4 Commemoration grant application with the program coordinating subcommittee members so that it can be included with the letter from the program coordinating subcommittee and posted on the Web site. Sally Kandel suggested that the program notification and the grant application forms be combined into a single form.

COMMUNITY RELATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE

Co-chair Margaret Garmon passed out a subcommittee report. She welcomed Mayor Fender. Mayor Fender indicated that the work the community relations subcommittee was very much in keeping with the goals established by the leadership of the city of Kent and they were glad to be working with us.

It was suggested that tours of the city of Kent be offered as part of the commemorative activities for returning alumni. Also, Marc Crail, the superintendent of Kent City Schools, offered the 30th Commemoration Committee use of the new middle school for a town/gown meeting. We will arrange for our January meeting to be at the middle school.

We will also submit an article for the Tree City Bulletin. Copy is due by Oct. 23 and will be published in the Dec. 6 issue. The next issue of the Tree City Bulletin will be published on March 23.

Cyndi Welsh, a former city of Kent resident, had written a letter to the editor of the Akron Beacon Journal encouraging community involvement in the 30th commemoration. Margaret had prepared a response to her letter.

Shirley Wajda suggested that we host an essay contest or some other type of program for high school students. She is involved with the Salem Women’s Rights Conference, and they have a successful curriculum competition and award a $1000 scholarship to the winner.

A draft of a brochure describing the May 4 Oral History project was distributed. The community relations subcommittee hopes to have some satellite oral history interview locations in downtown Kent.

FAMILY RELATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE

Letters to the families of the slain students are being mailed from subcommittee members Carole Barbato, Jerry Lewis and Michele Touve-Gregorino. The family relations subcommittee would like to continue the practice of assigning a host/hostess to each of the family members who attend commemorative activities. The family relations subcommittee would like to host a dinner on May 3 or a breakfast on May 4 for the families.

Nancy Schiappa will be coordinating the Welcome and Information Center at the Williamson Alumni Center on May 3 and 4. She plans to schedule volunteers for two hour shifts.

Traditionally, the university has paid for accommodations and airfare for the families and the wounded students who wish to attend the commemoration. The May 4 Task Force was requesting this as part of its programming allocation. We will address this with Margaret Payne (who had to leave the meeting prior to this discussion).

Several members of the committee offered to have special guests stay in their homes.

COMMUNICATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE

Subcommittee Chair Ron Kirksey shared a report on the communications that had been completed or were being planned. Copies of the responses to the Akron Beacon Journal’s Saturday question, “Enough of May 4?’’ which appeared on Sept. 18 were distributed.

Also, the 30th Commemoration Web site is online at http://www.kent.edu/30YearMay4. We will continue to update the site. It will be linked to and from a common portal site, May4.net, which is being designed and donated by Kent State alumnus Rod Flauhaus.

The communications subcommittee will hold its first meeting on Oct. 11, 1990 at 1:30 p.m. in the University Relations and Marketing Conference Room.

SIGNS TO THE MEMORIAL

Sally Kandel offered to follow up on placing directional signs to the May 4 Site and Memorial.


FIFTH ANNUAL VIOLENCE SYMPOSIUM

Laura Davis shared that the fifth annual violence symposium will take place on the evening of March 13 and during the day on March 14. The theme for this year’s symposium has not been decided. The group concurred that although the 30th Commemoration and Violence Symposium each had distinct identities the two programs should be linked.

NEXT MEETING

The next full committee meeting will be on Monday, Nov. 8, 1999 at 3:30 p.m. in the Williamson Alumni Center Conference Room.

Respectfully submitted,


Carole Harwood
Coordinator of Public Relations