The board of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, a brand owned by Unilever, said that the pro-Palestinian protests sweeping US college campuses and graduation ceremonies are “essential” to democracy, Reuters reports.

Lunch counter sit-ins, student-led protests against the Vietnam War and Apartheid South Africa, and now the campus protests in solidarity with Gaza, all are part of our rich history of free speech and non-violent protest that makes change and is essential to a strong democracy, the independent board said in a statement.

London-based Unilever did not immediately return a request for comment.