Jeffrey Miller

Who was Jeffrey Miller?

Jeffrey Glenn Miller was an American student at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, when he was shot and killed by Ohio National Guardsmen in the Kent State shootings. Shortly before his death, in January 1970, Miller had transferred to Kent State from Michigan State University. While at Michigan State, Miller pledged Phi Kappa Tau fraternity where his older brother had been a member. He and his brother had always been close, and shared a birthday. After his brother graduated from Michigan State, Miller found himself feeling increasingly out of touch with those he knew at Michigan State. During the summer of 1969, an old friend from New York who attended Kent State urged Miller to consider transferring. He quickly adapted to Kent State and soon had many friends, including Allison Krause and Sandra Scheuer who would both die with him on May 4.

Miller had taken part in the protests that day and had thrown a tear-gas canister back at the Ohio National Guardsmen who had originally fired it. The protests, initially against the expansion of the Vietnam War into Cambodia, had morphed into a protest against the presence of the Ohio National Guard on the Kent State campus.