Pepperdine University just announced that Reverend Johnnie Moore will be the new Vice Chancellor of its Washington, D.C. campus. As a university that upholds a mission of principled faith, the recent appointment of Rev. Moore clearly contradicts that. Rev. Moore was a key leading figure in the deadly Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the privatized "death traps" orchestrated by American contractors.
Tell Pepperdine University that by appointing someone who contributed to the deaths of thousands of Palestinians, they are upholding the values of genocide and must rescind his appointment.
Dear President Gash and Members of the Board,
We, the undersigned individuals against occupation, write in anger and dismay at Pepperdine’s decision to appoint Rev. Johnnie Moore as Vice Chancellor of its Washington, D.C., campus. Pepperdine proclaims a mission of faith, service, truth, and moral leadership — values fundamentally at odds with elevating a figure whose recent role leading the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has drawn widespread condemnation.
The Foundation’s aid sites have been described by survivors and medical workers as death traps: overcrowded, under-secured, shot through with gunfire, and prone to panic, stampedes, and chaos. Its distribution model — privatized, militarized, and politicized — centralized starving civilians at a few exposed points in an active war zone, turning the search for food into a life-threatening ordeal. Reports from the ground recount scenes of terror and preventable death; this is not a model consistent with compassion or with the mission Pepperdine claims to stand for.
Pepperdine cannot credibly teach leadership and the dignity of every human being while rewarding such unprincipled leadership. The victims who were simply trying to eat deserve truth, contrition, and repair, not a promotion for those who presided over the policies that put them in harm’s way. By welcoming Rev. Moore into senior leadership, Pepperdine communicates to students, faculty, alumni, and the world that Christian ethics are negotiable and that the cries of the hungry can be drowned out by public relations. That is intolerable for a university that claims to shape ethical leaders.
We therefore call on you to immediately rescind Rev. Johnnie Moore’s appointment. Announce an independent, transparent review of how this hiring was approved and what standards will govern future leadership selections. Make clear—publicly and unequivocally—that Pepperdine stands with humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, and that it will not lend its name to leadership mired in allegations of gross harm. Finally, commit to tangible support for life-saving, principled humanitarian action in Gaza and to listening to those whose families waited in those lines and never came home.
This is a moment to decide who Pepperdine really is. Either your faith compels you to stand with the vulnerable and to tell the truth about preventable tragedy, or your faith is merely a slogan.
Show your integrity by firing Rev. Johnnie Moore and beginning the work of repair.
Sincerely,