Montreal's Concordia University has announced that former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak and the Jewish student group Hillel have turned down an offer to Barak to speak off-campus. In an opinion piece in the "Montreal Gazette", Concordia University President Fred Lowy said the university was heeding advice from security authorities when it had ruled this month that allowing Barak to speak on campus posed "an unacceptable risk" to students, faculty, staff and neighbors, and that normal academic activities would be significantly disrupted. The decision prompted protests by Jewish groups. Lowy said that by offering to co-sponsor Barak's appearance elsewhere, freedom of speech would be served and security would be maintained. When Hillel and its supporters rejected the university's proposal to co-sponsor the event at an alternative venue, Lowy added, Mr. Barak was invited to come as Concordia's guest. However Mr Barak has declined this invitation.