Even one of his colleagues, Thomas Hensley, who taught a course with Lewis about May 4, had misconceptions of Lewis. "What I heard about him was that he was a bearded, radical, hippie professor," Hensley . "I was very, very surprised to find that he certainly has a strong liberal point of view and believes in peaceful protest, basically he is a regular guy."

This regular guy says he feels like a dinosaur talking about his life when he teaches about May 4. But he doesn't want his image to discourage students from taking his classes.

"I carry a lot of baggage," Lewis says. "I don't really care much what people think. people assume you're a radical, which I was, but in the next step they assume I'm violent, which I'm not."

"A few of the soldiers knelt and began firing teargas canisters at the students behind the vidtory bell. Although the wind dispersed the tear gas quickly as it was freed, it served its immediate pupose -- the students began moving away."

"For a while I was just giving illustration (to May 4)," Lewis says. "Then I team taught (with Hensley) a course about May 4 and its aftermath. Then it became a part of my collective-behavior (lecture)." Now Lewis devotes a day or two in his Introduction to Sociology class to talking about May 4.

Last spring semester, Lewis brought to his class the woman whose face is most connected to the shootings, Mary Vecchio. She was immortalized by the photograph of her kneeling over the body of Jeffery Miller that ran on the cover of Newsweek magazine. He says the students were very receptive.

"The students were wonderful. They were moved by the experience," Lewis says. "She was moved by the experience. When I moved the (overhead) picture of her over the picture of the Madonna, we all cried."

But he finds not all students are interested in learning about May 4.

"Freshmen are so ambivalent about it," Lewis says. "They are worried it is going to hurt their degree (from Kent State)."

Lewis doesn't let this discourage him from talking about it. His peers see this as a true commitment to teaching.

"Jerry has never lost his faith in the teaching mission of the university," Gargan says. "He is as enthusiastic about teaching today as when I first met him in 1967."

Lewis says he sometimes tires of talking about May 4, but not with those who are really interested in learning.

"My most difficult time is with a reporter who hasn't prepared," Lewis says. "I am shocked at the range of reporters. Some don't know how many people were shot."

Lewis says he has had the hardest time with television reporters. On the 20th anniversary of the shootings in 1990, Lewis had an interview with "Prime Time Live."

"Sam Donaldson said to me, 'That's very nice, Mr. Lewis. Could you show more emotion next time?' "

Less than 15 seconds later the shooting ended. I jumped to my feet to see the most horrible sight of my life. Several bleeding students lay in the parking lot. One hysterical youth rushed up to me, insisting that the bullets were "blanks." I pointed to a young woman lying on the ground and said, "Look!" I later learned she was Sandy Scheuer, one of the four students killed that day.

Within four hours, Kent State closed. The campus reopened four days later, but it would never again be the same. The nation was watching our every move.

- Melanie C. King is a senior magazine journalism major. This is her first contribution to The Burr.