Harvard University laid off the staff members of its Slavery Remembrance Program on Thursday and outsourced the program.

Harvard abruptly laid off its Slavery Remembrance Program staff, who were tasked with identifying direct descendants of people enslaved by Harvard affiliates.

Staff told Harvard's student newspaper that they were not given any advance notice of the decision to lay off staff and outsource research to a nonprofit.

Harvard on Thursday laid off the staff of the Harvard Slavery Remembrance Program, the unit of its $100 million Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery initiative tasked with identifying descendants of those enslaved by Harvard affiliates.

A program at Harvard University meant to identify the descendants of people previously enslaved by university affiliates has been outsources, while its staff was terminated, a report said.