Roseann “Chic” Canfora: Educator and Activist
On May 4, 1970, Roseann “Chic” Canfora was protesting the expansion of the Vietnam War at Kent State University, and she became an eyewitness and survivor of the historic shootings by Ohio National Guard members that killed four students. But Canfora, whose late brother, Alan, was wounded by the gunfire, was not deterred, and the Vietnam War activism got results.
“I still marvel at the fact that we stopped a war,” she says. “Our struggle cost lives, but we saved lives.”
She is still an activist today, continuing to speak out on issues she’s passionate about, including those shootings as a member of the May 4 Presidential Advisory Committee, which helps plan May 4 commemorations.
“The greatest tribute we can pay to May 4, 1970, and honor the university’s legacy is to see all over the campus, people still engaging in public discourse, to see embedded in the curriculum, opportunities to see how the voices of American people have actually changed public policy,” she says.
This is what the former high school journalism teacher, Cleveland Metropolitan School District chief communications officer and adjunct professor hopes to keep facilitating.
She is continuing to teach Media, Power and Culture and teaching Ethics and Issues in Mass Communication for the first time this fall in her new position as a professional-in-residence at Kent State’s School of Media and Journalism.
This spring, she will teach a new Media and Movement course that is centered around an issue and teaches students how to participate in democracy through advocacy.
Named one of the “100 Women of the Century” by Ms. Magazine, Canfora is an advocate for the truth, and her experiences make her a perfect fit to shape emerging journalists.
“May 4 is not just about our friends [who died], Allison, Jeff, Sandy and Bill. It’s not just about those of us who survived the shootings. It’s about the power that students then and now have to change the course of human events,” she says. “If people know the truth, I have faith that they will act on their own conscience as I did.”
We talk with Canfora about teaching journalism at Kent State.
What inspired you to take on your current position in the School of Media and Journalism?
RC: I had spent enough time in the classroom to know I’m happiest when I’m in the world of academics and working with students. I saw enough in the world of media [relations] to know that there needs to be really solid training for the journalists coming out of our colleges. The whole concept of put it up now, get it right later defies everything that made me fall in love with journalism during the Watergate era when you had Ben Bradlee saying to Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, Get me another source. Questioning the credibility of sources, remaining skeptical and not being willing to go with a story until they got it right — that’s what made me fall in love with journalism.
Why is now an important time to invest in future journalists?
RC: I can’t imagine a more important time for young people to consider careers in journalism. We have facts at our fingertips. But we also have so much misinformation, propaganda at our fingertips, too, which is one of the reasons why I love teaching Media, Power and Culture. It’s a course in media literacy. We have never needed more, at any time in our history, good solid news reporting, ethical reporters telling the truth.
Are there any topics you’re especially excited to cover in your classes?
RC: I feel very, very strongly that as educators, we should make our classrooms places where students can talk about real life as much as possible. I was very happy that the textbook that I was able to adopt in Ethics was released in 2021. It’s lots of opportunities to talk about things that they’re actually seeing in the news and … whether they would make the same decisions based on their own moral compass.
Being an activist, what do you bring to journalism students?
RC: I happen to be one of those people who value college campuses as havens for activism, the place that historically has served as the conscience of America. [What] I hope I can play a part in now at Kent State is helping to raise student awareness of the issues that truly do impact their lives. One of my goals as a lifelong activist is to tap into those issues that students care about and help them realize that they have a role in society as voters but also as activists that can make a difference in their own lives.
How do activism and journalism intersect?
RC: If we are advocates for democracy — which I hope all of us are because journalism will protect our democracy — then your greatest loyalty must be to the truth.
You’ve experienced a lot at Kent State. How is it being regularly back on campus?
RC: There’s just a lot of personal history. There’s a lot of family history there. I can’t walk anywhere on the May 4 site and not see pictures of my brother and the marker where he fell. I’m touched when I see candles on that spot or a black flag waving in the wind there. So, it’s a solemn place for me, it’s a meaningful place for me, but it’s home for me.