Diversity Chief of NASA Fired after Trump's Crackdown

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory fired one of its chief diversity and inclusion officers, Neela Rajendra, after Trump's crackdown. The agency also tried to change her title to retain her. Washington Free Beacon claimed that NASA tried changing the title multiple times after Trump ordered the executive branch operations.

An all-staff memo sent by Laurie Leshin clearly stated that Neela Rajendra does not work for the jet propulsion laboratory. It read, "Neela Rajendra is no longer working at [the Jet Propulsion Laboratory]," Laurie Leshin's mail read. "We are incredibly grateful for her lasting impact on our organization. We wish her the very best."

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s website has a section “Who we are”. The information and details of Rajendra seem to be removed. The page read “Error 404: Page not found”. In the year 2024, close to 900 employees were removed from NASA as a part of budget constraints. However, the reports have clarified that she was not listed in the layoff.

Despite direct orders from the Trump administration’s executive office, NASA planned to retain Rajendra by changing her title to Head of Customer Success and eliminating the title of Diversity and Inclusion from her name. However, most of the responsibilities remained unchanged for her. NASA was forced to shut down the branch and tried rebranding the title of Neela.

Neela Rajendra's employment grew attention after the incident where two Astronauts were stranded in space for more than 9 months. It was estimated that the incident was caused by faulty jet propulsion. The investigating authority also doubted if the DEI was responsible for the faulty propulsion, which left two resources stranded and called for financial uplift for the project.

In the year 2022, Neela had criticised SpaceX for lack in DEI and having a fast-paced environment. However, it was SpaceX that safely brought the two stranded astronauts back to Earth without any failure. In March, Donald Trump signed a memo to “restoring the values of individual dignity, hard work, and excellence,”. The order also read, “US government will not base Foreign Service recruitment, hiring, promotion, or retention decisions on an individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, nor embed discriminatory equity ideology within any element of the Foreign Service.”

NASA now joins other federal agencies that have shut down their diversity programs. In the Memorandum, Trump has claimed that diversity and inclusion programs have given new possibilities to race and ethnicity. Moreover, he believes these programs also divide the people of America and bring even more discrimination.