Last week, as university students across Canada were preparing to return to classes for the winter semester, the Ontario branch of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) announced it plans to propose a ban on Israeli academics speaking, teaching or researching at Ontario universities in protest of the Dec. 29 bombing of the Islamic University in Gaza.

CUPE Ontario president Sid Ryan said Israeli academics shouldn’t be on Ontario campuses unless they explicitly condemn the bombing and the assault on Gaza in general.

It’s easy to jump to the conclusion that anyone who wouldn’t condemn the killing of civilians and the destruction of an institution of higher learning is a monster.

But if we know anything about this conflict, it’s this. After years of wars and – since Israel’s creation in 1948 – decades of internationally influenced conflict between Israel and Arabs, including Palestinians, there are no easy answers.

Banning individual academics from working in Ontario’s universities based on their Israeli nationality will not stop Palestinians in Gaza from being killed by Israeli military efforts. It will only prevent Ontario university students from learning and it will set a dangerous precedent for free speech in Canada.

In the Globe and Mail, Ryan was quoted as saying, “Attacking an institution of learning is just beyond the pale. They deliberately targeted an institution of learning. That’s what the Nazis did.”

The Nazis also stifled free speech, silenced anyone who didn’t agree with them and, oh yeah, killed millions of Jews.

Ryan has since apologized for his comments.

Aside from the fact that comparing Israelis with the Nazis is absurd and disturbing, the result of the ban Ryan is proposing will be to attack the institution of higher learning itself by censoring the voices on one side of the conflict.

One of the purposes of a broad-based university education is to develop critical thinkers who can examine the two or more sides of a story and draw their own conclusions.

To suggest to students that only the Palestinian experience is correct or worth learning about is not academically sound.

In fact, it sounds a lot like propaganda.

Free speech is an ideal we cling to whether we agree with what someone is saying or not. And, if we let them say it, it doesn’t mean we necessarily agree with them.

 There are better ways for Canadian citizens and organizations to show we’re against the killing of innocent men, women and children than excluding all academics from a single country based on the actions of its government.

Ryan and his colleagues at CUPE Ontario would surely be laughed out of this province if they proposed a ban on all Canadian academics who support the war in Afghanistan, or all Americans who support the war in Iraq.

We know innocent Iraqi and Afghan civilians have been killed during these conflicts and it’s clear that banning Canadian and American war supporters from teaching and researching in our universities would not prevent those deaths.

Other methods of protest, such as anti-war rallies, sit-ins and letter writing campaigns, haven’t been very effective either, but at least they embrace the ideals of free speech and individual freedom which we, as Canadians, hold dear.

Since Ryan’s announcement, segments of CUPE Ontario have stated they don’t agree with the proposal and that Ryan shouldn’t speak on behalf of the more than 200,000 CUPE Ontario members.

Ryan and others who support this ban serve to only further divide regular members who want to continue focusing on improving health care, municipal and social services, and more importantly for us, lobbying for accessible and affordable university education for Ontario’s post-secondary students.