William Paterson student Bethany Koval posted a thread of videos on Twitter on June 2 accusing sociology professor Clyde Magarelli of lecturing anti-Semitism and conspiracy theories. 

Magarelli was caught on tape spewing anti-Semitic beliefs. In one video, he tells his students that the Gestapo was not a terrorist force for the majority of its existence.

“Müller was the head of the Gestapo. People said ‘Oh the Gestapo, they’re terrorists, they’re engaged in torture.’ No, only in the last part of the war were they professionals,” he said. 

Koval later tweeted her email to Dr. Jacob Felson, the acting chairperson of the sociology department. In her email, Koval described one of Magarelli’s anti-abortion lectures. Koval debates Magarelli, arguing that birth control is the reason for a decrease in abortion rates over the last few years. Magarelli denounces her view and claims that it is due to a “new” law where “aborters now have to see the fetus before they kill it.”

The lecture then continues when Magarelli poses the question, “Ahead of aborters, which group with a disorder commits suicide the most” Koval says that an unnamed student answers the question with “transgenders,” to which Magarelli approves with a nod. 

Koval’s following tweets show her frustration at not receiving any help from the university. She also posted a screenshot of an email where The Beacon decided to hold off on publishing her story on May 6 of this year.

With the information presented to The Beacon, the editorial staff decided to not pursue a further investigation at the time.

Koval also posted a 40-second video where Magarelli claims that the moon landing was fake. 

In the video, Koval can be heard asking, “what is your theory on the moon landing again”? Magarelli responds, “You can actually see the moon. You can’t land on the moon but you can see it in detail. Why”? Magarelli answers his own question by saying that “we cannot land on the moon because it does not have an atmosphere.”

On June 5, Koval posted her email correspondence with Dr. Glen Sherman, the Associate Vice President and Dean of Student Development. In her email, Koval doubts that submitting a formal complaint will achieve anything. 

Should Magarelli be allowed to use his classroom as a soapbox to forward his own radical views? Can he say all of this in the name of free speech? The end of free speech is the beginning of hate speech. Magarelli has been filmed expressing anti-Semitic beliefs, teaching false information about the Gestapo and the moon landing.