Staff members at Harvard University leading its Slavery Remembrance Program have lost their jobs.

The program, supported through a $100 million Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery initiative, helps find descendants of those enslaved by Harvard University’s leadership, faculty, or staff, note the Boston Globe and the Harvard Crimson.

Recently, the program, which includes HSRP Director Richard J. Cellini and research fellow Wayne W. Tucker, discovered “several hundred people” who had been enslaved between 1660 and 1815 and shared their findings with the prime minister and governor-general of Antigua and Barbuda in hopes of gaining further insight into these areas.

Just one week after the outreach, the program staff were laid off on Thursday, Jan. 23. Four months earlier, Cellini had claimed Vice Provost for Special Projects Sara N. Bleich warned the program “not to find too many descendants.” The program’s findings have revealed over 300 enslaved people were enslaved by the school’s leadership, faculty, or staff.

“I have told officials at the highest level of the University that they only have two options: fire me, or let the HSRP do this work properly,” Cellini wrote in a September statement to The Crimson.

On Thursday, Cellini shared an updated writing in a text: “Today Harvard fired me. So now we know.”

The exact reason for the layoffs is unclear. Harvard University spokesperson Sarah E. Kennedy O’Reilly stated, “We cannot comment on personnel matters.”

Moving forward, Harvard’s Slavery Remembrance Program will now be led by American Ancestors, a genealogical nonprofit that had been a partner in the project.

“Richard Cellini’s superb efforts launched us on our way on this historically important mission, and now it is time for American Ancestors to take the lead in what will be a systematic, scholarly, sustained effort to establish the facts about this dark chapter in our university’s history and begin the long journey of healing,” Gates said. “We are indebted to Richard for his early guidance and his ambitious leadership,” said Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Advisory Council member.

 Ryan J. Woods, President and CEO of American Ancestors, commented:

 “We understand from our extensive experience that tracing families descended from enslaved individuals is a complex, time-intensive process filled with significant challenges. We are committed to advancing this critical research to help Harvard establish meaningful connections and engagement with living descendants.”