In Monday’s edition of The Kent Stater, our editorial staff published an “Our View” condemning President Donald Trump’s 90-day ban on entry into the United States from seven countries based on their Muslim-heavy populations: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Of those seven countries, six are represented within Kent State’s student body.

The executive order — despite the administration’s argument that the ban is in the best interest of the American people —  scoffs in the face of our democracy. It derails this nation’s role as a land of equality, opportunity and prosperity.

The ban is not only an affront on our national identity, but it also deviates from our university’s mission to “transform lives through the power of discovery, learning and creative expression in an inclusive environment.”

Over 100 countries are represented at Kent State  — each boasting its respective flag on this page  — ranging from Albania to Zimbabwe. Barring Antarctica, every continent is represented at this university.

Kent State, perhaps against the agenda of the Trump administration, prides itself as a global community. It is now our responsibility to ensure that this country’s leaders can’t take that away.

In May 1970, Kent State students stood up to what they believed was an unjust expansion of U.S. military operations into Cambodia. The legacy of activism left behind by Allison Krause and Jeffrey Miller — both students killed by the U.S. National Guard while protesting on our very campus — must be perpetuated now more than ever.

Robert F. Kennedy once famously stated in his “Ripple of Hope” speech that, “Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

If our own president fails to uphold the fundamental values of our great nation, then the responsibility falls on each of us to be that tiny ripple, sweeping down Trump’s walls of oppression and resistance.

Until those tiny ripples create a wave of change, those living in fear of Trump’s authoritarianism can be certain that we who oppose this executive order will not abandon the cause.

The above editorial is the consensus opinion of The Kent Stater editorial board, whose names are listed above.