Holocaust Scholar

Re “Scholar Resigns Holocaust Museum Post Amid Dispute,” July 6: I have been a colleague of John Roth’s for some 28 years. I am not an expert on the Holocaust, nor do I agree with everything John has written during his career. But I feel strongly that he is being unfairly attacked. Indeed, I believe I can speak for the vast majority of the Claremont McKenna College community when I say that John is deeply admired and respected here. He is a person of the highest integrity. He is one of the top teachers at this college--popular with students, innovative in his teaching and rigorous in his demands on students. He is an energetic and helpful colleague. He has been enormously productive as a scholar, and his many books and articles (including those on the Holocaust) are respected.

It is painful to witness the specter of an honest and fair human being and a gifted teacher and scholar being criticized with distortions and half-truths. The Jews who died in the Holocaust have no more loyal friend than Roth.

STEPHEN T. DAVIS

Professor of Philosophy and

Religion, Claremont McKenna