With US government support ever since May 4, 1970, Kent State University has steadfastly controlled what is known about the Kent State massacre. For the 50th anniversary, US government efforts to obstruct truth at Kent State went into overdrive:

• In March 2019, a KSU Board of Trustees action took over the Kent State 50th in an abrupt decommission of the May 4th Task Force, a KSU student-run liaison to the families of those killed and injured, in operation since 1975.
• With more than $2 million earmarked for the Kent State 50th commemoration, KSU partnered with the US government, notably the CIA, to commandeer a year-long Kent State 50th program; and
• KSU and the US government still stonewall demands for credible or legitimate Kent State investigations, and have refused to acknowledge the Kent State Truth Tribunal established in 2010.

At the May 4 Visitors Center established in 2013 on the Kent State University campus, the museum promotes the government view of the Kent State massacre. Whether to mislead or censor, the visitor center refuses to include current developments in the Kent State massacre: 

• The expert forensic findings emerging in Stuart Allen’s 2010 discovery of the Kent State massacre commands-to-fire;  and
• The mountains of evidence and unanswered questions about FBI informant and provocateur Terry Norman’s activities on May 4, 1970 in the Kent State massacre.

In May 2019 just after the 49th anniversary, Kent State University administrators suffered a PR fiasco in the bungled appointment of 25-year CIA veteran, Stephanie Danes Smith, to chair and lead the Kent State 50th committees.

In response to the CIA appointment, the Kent State Truth Tribunal led an email campaign that went viral, inundating KSU president’s mailbox with comments against the CIA being put in charge of the 50th Kent State. Days later Danes Smith, the CIA veteran, stepped down from her appointment as chair of Kent State 50th commemoration planning.  

Even though Danes Smith publicly stepped down from her 50th chair role, she still manages matters and messaging related to the Kent State massacre for the University. Working in tandem with Danes Smith is a hand-selected Kent State University team that includes a 20-year Ohio National Guard careerist, now the executive directing Kent State media and communications, with a recruited Nixon Presidential Library employee, who launched the May 4 Visitors Center.

With the perpetrators of the Kent State massacre documenting Kent State for the future, it makes it more challenging for truth, accountability and healing at Kent State.