The University of Michigan has apologized for a professor’s commencement address in which he praised student activists who protested Israel’s assault on Gaza. The apology came over these remarks at a graduation ceremony last Saturday by historian Derek Peterson, the outgoing chair of the Faculty Senate, who commemorated the university’s long history of social activism.

Derek Peterson: “Sing for the pro-Palestinian student activists, who have over these past two years opened our hearts to the injustice and inhumanity of Israel’s war in Gaza.”

University of Michigan President Domenico Grasso later called those remarks “hurtful and insensitive to many members of our community.” Peterson said he was “mystified” by the response. He told CBS News, “Having an open heart to other people’s suffering is a fundamental human virtue.”