Students joined with professors Monday to denounce Concordia University's campus moratorium on Middle East activities as an affront to free speech.

"How are we supposed to be able to discuss intellectually, spiritually and emotionally if we can't even open our mouths?" said Stephan Herman, the university's chief electoral officer, during a peaceful protest outside a building at the university's downtown campus.

University rector Frederick Lowy said Friday he plans to ease the ban enough to allow pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel student groups to hold a joint activity soon, and possibly ease it further depending on the result of the gathering.

That's not soon enough for Concordia Student Union leaders or history professor Robert Tittler, who argued the ban should never have been imposed in the first place.

"It is a privilege to teach. If you're going to teach, you have to stand up for the right to teach, and the right to teach freely," he told protesters through a megaphone Monday.

Some students said the university overreacted in imposing the three-month ban after the heated Sept. 9 protest that forced the cancellation of a speech by former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Samer Elatrash of the Coalition for a Just Peace in the Middle East said that pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian students generally have civil or even angry discussions without resorting to violence.

Student union vice-president Ralph Lee said students plan to keep protesting the ban until it's lifted, adding that the students' union has received letters denouncing the moratorium from universities around the world.