Sorry, but the administration made absolutely the correct decision when they suspended the course. It would have been better all around, of course, had they not approved the course and put in on the schedule initially.

But the facts are plain: This course was being taught from a very skewed perspective, one that is inherently hostile to the Jewish presence in Israel, and one that falsely portrays an indigenous people (Jews) as if they were foreign colonizers, while equally falsely portraying the descendants of foreign colonizers (Arabs) as if they were now magically indigenous to the land.

As a mathematician who teaches formal logic, I can tell you as an expert: Any argument that begins with false premises will lead to unreliable conclusions.

The fact that the students themselves point out in this letter, that many of them are not familiar with the history of the region and the facts of the situation, makes this course all the more dangerous. By teaching fiction as if it were fact, it will lead those students to false beliefs about the situation. And as psychological studies have shown many times, it is very difficult to overcome a false first impression, no matter how many facts one encounters later on. We all tend to fall prey to confirmation bias, in which we choose (often subconsciously) to ignore facts that do not happen to fit our beliefs, or our narrative.

Thank you, UC chancellors, for having the courage to do the right thing and cancel this class, DESPITE the student protests.