‘A Campaign of Anti-Palestinian Racism’: HDS Students, Alumni Decry Program Suspension

When Harvard Divinity School alum Destiny Magnett learned that the school’s Religion, Conflict, and Peace Initiative was suspended, she was angry, but not surprised.

Magnett, who graduated in May and now works for advocacy group Churches for Middle East Peace, said the decision to pause the program just made her more disenchanted with the Divinity School.

HDS Dean Marla Frederick announced the decision on March 28 in an online post to the school’s website, citing a budget cut and a desire to “rethink” the future of the program. Frederick began reviewing the program’s curriculum last spring.

The Religion and News Service also reported on Thursday that Hilary Rantisi’s role as Associate Director of the initiative will not be renewed next year. (A Harvard spokesperson declined to confirm the report, citing a policy against commenting on personnel decisions.)

RCPI, along with its parent initiative — the Religion and Public Life program — seeks to apply the study of religion to modern global conflict. RCPI focuses on Israel and Palestine as a case study.

“I don’t think incoming RPL leadership has seemed supportive of RCPI — and so expected for there to be difficulty in the program’s continuity on the horizon,” Magnet wrote in a statement. “It just happened sooner rather than later.”

The announcement, which came just days before the Trump administration threatened nearly $9 billion in funding to Harvard and its affiliated hospitals, is the latest in a series of upheavals for the RPL program, frequently criticized for pro-Palestine bias.

In January, RPL Associate Dean Diane L. Moore and Assistant Dean for RPL Hussein Rashid departed unexpectedly. In a blistering resignation letter, Rashid accused Harvard of enabling anti-Muslim bias by failing to respond to “racist” and “false” statements against RPL by Harvard affiliates.

More than 20 alumni expressed outrage at the RCPI’s suspension and the non-renewal of Rantisi’s contract in a Tuesday letter to Frederick and University President Alan M. Garber ’76, calling it a failure by the University to live up to its values and protect the free speech of students.

“Harvard has made it abundantly clear that this campaign of repression seeks to silence anyone who dares to consider Palestinians human and deserving of life, freedom, and justice or heaven forbid is Palestinian themself,” alumni wrote in their letter.

“It is a campaign of anti-Palestinian racism and an affront to higher education, scholarship, freedom of expression, and all the values this university claims to uphold,” they continued.

Spokespeople for the University and HDS did not comment on criticisms of the RPL changes.

Ciara Moezidis, who graduated in 2024 and signed the letter, said she came to Harvard because of Moore and the RCPI program.

“Through their programming, I gained a deeper understanding of what working toward a just peace truly looks like, and I’ve been fortunate to find life-long mentors along the way,” she wrote in a statement.

2023 HDS graduate Kevin Keystone wrote in a statement that, “I feel awful and horrified for those who will come after me, who won’t have the crucial and powerful experiences and education that taught me how to stand up for a just peace.”

Many current students also expressed concern about the future of the program in light of its many recent leadership changes.

“It’s been a sort of slow burn process ever since finding out that Diane Moore was not returning, and that Hussein Rashid was not returning,” said Carolyn D. Jones, a current HDS student pursuing a Certificate in Religion and Public Life.

“With Rantisi leaving as well, that feels like a death knoll in a lot of ways,” she added. “Folks are, you know, very worried that the end of the Conflict and Peace Initiative means the end of Religion and Public Life programming.”

Rachel A. Florman, a HDS student also pursuing the RPL certificate, also said she wished the school would communicate more with students about the program changes, as well as political threats from the Trump administration.

“The Divinity School itself, you’d think, would be perfectly positioned to respond in this moment, given that the mission of the Divinity School is something like furthering researchers in service of a just world at peace, and RPL in particular takes seriously that mandate for just peace,” she said.

— Staff Writer Sebastian B. Connolly can be reached at sebastian.connolly@thecrimson.com and on X @SebastianC4784.

— Staff Writer Julia A. Karabolli can be reached at julia.karabolli@thecrimson.com.