Stockton Students and Faculty are Coming Together to Prevent Genocide Erasure

GALLOWAY, N.J. — On July 31, John Scarpa—Stockton University’s largest individual donor—sent a letter to President Joe Bertolino demanding the removal of Dr. Raz Segal’s statement from the Master of Arts in Holocaust and Genocide Studies (MAHG) program webpage. Segal, a world-renowned genocide scholar, had authored a director’s message describing Israel’s actions in Gaza as a case of genocide that forcibly displaced 2.3 million Palestinians.

Scarpa, a wealthy retiree, disagreed with the scholar’s assessment. He insisted that official university materials should not express the “personal views” of one individual. The irony is stark: a single non-specialist donor used his financial clout to dictate academic framing. Does Stockton allow capital power to override scholarly expertise? It appears so. On Sunday, August 3, Segal’s message was scrubbed from the site.

Just two days after a letter is sent by mere half-billionaire Scarpa, the exact message in question is removed, but the University denies donor influence. The timeline is obvious in causality but still denied by Bertolino and the school administration.

In a statement passed through the director of strategic information Bertolino says, “I first learned about the Director’s message on the Master of Arts in Holocaust and Genocide Studies webpage before Scarpa ever contacted me.” These changes were allegedly discussed with Provost Palladino, according to Bertolino, and attributed this to a broader review on graduate program websites. But there is no formal hard evidenced for this, no paper trail included with his statement.

Segal—whose responsible for overseeing the MAHG webpage—firmly stated that the site was not under review prior to Scarpa’s letter, confirming he “was not notified of anything.” He only learned of the letter when the Press of Atlantic City reached out for comment. Since 2018, the MAHG webpage had been managed directly by Segal in collaboration with program faculty and graduate admissions.

As a Stockton student passionate about Palestinian liberation, I sublimated my anger into action by filing a New Jersey Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request. After my initial request was denied past the legal deadline for being “overly broad,” I consulted a lawyer and submitted a refined version on August 20 covering three years of records. The administration eventually requested an extension to September 18—consistently dragging out responses to the last possible date.

Stockton’s administration has every incentive to sweep this under the rug. While students carry the moral burden, leadership faces severe fallout if donor influence is formally proven. The Stockton Federation of Teachers (SFT, Local 2275)—our campus faculty union backed by AFTNJ—has already declared this removal a violation of academic freedom. Far beyond an individual OPRA request, union oversight represents the primary mechanism to investigate administrative overreach and push for the return of Segal’s message.

Tara Luke, SFT Local 2275 President, issued a statement declaring that “The Federation of Teachers is deeply concerned by our University’s actions and is pursuing the contractual options available to help us protect our faculty and defend academic freedom”. She cited that the administration’s decisions raise “serious concerns” regarding faculty rights under their collective bargaining agreement and threaten to compromise academic expression. Strong intervention by SFT could impose direct consequences on administrative overreach, serving as a critical safeguard against future acts of genocide erasure at Stockton.

The Office of the President comes with a $450,000 yearly salary as of July 1, along with other hefty benefits approved by the Board of Trustees. Removal of the message was a joint decision, dispersing the denial of genocide across the entire administration rather than holding a single official accountable.

The book, The Imperial University, posits universities function like corporations, making the removal of Segal’s message a brand management choice. Stockton pushes a progressive brand but draws lines so conservative donors like Scarpa don’t steer clear. With our president receiving corporate-style compensation—including potential yearly bonuses up to $100,000—removing references to genocide becomes a “routine website review” rather than the moral issue it is.

What the administration fails to realize is that progressive academic integrity is Stockton’s brand. By denying that a genocide is occurring in Gaza, leadership alienates its primary base, rendering the concept of a “social justice president” meaningless.

The university invested in a world-renowned Holocaust and Genocide Studies program and hired Segal to lead it. That expertise brings Stockton prestige. When our foremost genocide scholar authors a message on his program’s website, it reflects expert consensus. Bertolino and the Board of Trustees are not genocide scholars—and Scarpa doubly so.

Palestinian issues in the modern university receive the most scrutiny of any topic—so much so that censoring the genocide in Gaza caused statements on other genocides in Myanmar, Ukraine, and Sudan to be erased as collateral damage. My heart goes out to you if those were your family and they got minimized by our university.

This is not just a Stockton issue; it is national and global, a method of the imperial machine. This genocide erasure is part of a system—a system integrated into the very structures you will enter in the workforce, where you too can become collateral damage deemed necessary by bureaucrats.

Beyond filing OPRA requests and supporting AFTNJ’s pushback, students and faculty are actively organizing on campus. Professor Adam Miyashiro and Segal will host a teach-in for students and faculty addressing genocide erasure and outlining strategies to defend academic freedom against administrative censorship. The teach-in will take place Sept. 29 from noon to 4 p.m. in the C/D Atrium and September 30 from 10 A.M. to 2 P.M. in the Multicultural Center. Anyone interested in getting involved can connect with Stockton’s Students for Justice in Palestine on OspreyHub.