KENT, Ohio — He sold millions of records, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice and was a figurehead of the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s. However, for Kent State University, David Crosby, the late legendary and acclaimed musician was much more than his accolades. Given his indelible link to the May 4, 1970 shootings, Crosby, in many respects, was a member of the Kent State family.
“It was immediate. It was topical. It was immediate and it was the truth,” Crosby said in a 2017 interview published by the university. “We didn’t realize it would be a gigantic hit. We knew that there were a whole lot of people like us who were shocked that four of America’s children had been gunned down on a campus doing something they were legally allowed to do.”
Rosann ‘Chic’ Canfora, a full-time assistant professor of journalism at Kent State’s School of Media and Journalism, was a witness to the May 4 massacre. Her late brother, Alan, was also wounded in the shootings. “I don’t think I ever felt more privileged. I surprised myself that I wasn’t just standing there in awe of him,” Canfora said. “[W]hen he spoke of that time period and he was standing in front of the photo of him with his father and he’s wearing that fringe jacket… it was almost like I was hearing him sing.”