(RNS) — Harvard Divinity School announced last week it was pausing its Religion, Conflict and Peace Initiative, a program that focused on Israel-Palestine as a case study.
On Wednesday (April 2), it cut the last remaining position in the initiative.
Hilary Rantisi, the associate director of the program, said she was told her position will not be renewed. She is also the sole Palestinian American staff member at the divinity school. Her last day is at the end of June. She did not comment further.
The news follows a cascading series of events that include the departure of two leaders of Harvard University’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies and the suspension of the Harvard School of Public Health’s partnership with Birzeit University in the West Bank.
Harvard is facing a Trump administration threat to cut $9 billion in contracts and grants for failing to protect Jewish students from antisemitism and promoting “divisive ideologies over free inquiry.” The Trump administration has already indicated it might pull hundreds of millions in federal funds from Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania for failing to address accusations of antisemitism on campus.
Hilary Rantisi. (Photo via HDS)
The divinity school declined to comment to RNS beyond the statement on its website, which says it is pausing the initiative “in order to rethink its focus and reimagine its future.” The change will be implemented in the next academic year.
The announcement posted last week also cited “long- and short-term budgetary issues” related to the initiative’s loss of financial support and said the divinity school will face a reduced budget next fiscal year.
In the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, the Religion, Conflict and Peace Initiative had …