Hundreds of students have recently been arrested for participating in protests against the Israeli government’s war in Gaza at dozens of universities across the country. But blue lights and zip ties aren’t making students on any campus safer, and sending in armed troops will only increase the tensions — and the potential for tragedy.

We don’t have to guess what that looks like because we already know: At Kent State on May 4, 1970, 28 National Guard soldiers fired into a crowd of thousands protesting the Vietnam War. They killed four students and wounded nine others.

Those protests weren’t so different from the ones we are seeing today. From Columbia to the University of Texas-Austin to the University of California, Berkeley, and back again, young people across the country are exercising their constitutionally protected rights to free speech and assembly to protest horrific violence in Gaza.

President Biden has an opportunity to show the kind of leadership necessary to meet this moment of crisis. As the protests spread, Republican governors could act unilaterally. That’s why your voice is urgently needed today: Will you help us send the president a clear and crucial reminder that dissent is not a crime, and protest is patriotic?