I think it really depends, mostly on how you word it and how you fit it in. If it is cookie cutter for the first 1 1/2 pages (assuming max 2), and you throw in the references to the program/professor at the bottem it will probably come off as insincere. I might also avoid mentioning a specific professor, though information about the program is ceratianly a good thing.
It might not help, I applied to Syracuse directly for its counterterrorism program and was dinged, and I wrote about how I love the program yadda yadda yadda. Didn't help me, but at Pace I wrote about how the small class sizes were something I appreciated and threw in some statistics, and I got in. Go figure, they are almost the same school dinged one in another.
Just write it as well as possible, and throw in some numbers about the program, but most importantly, write about how you can benefit from the program, but also how they will benefit from you being there.