NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has allegedly severed its relationship with Neela Rajendra, its previous head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), even though it had earlier changed her title to keep her on board after the lab's diversity office was closed this year.
The action follows the overall policy reforms triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order that abolished DEI programs in executive branch agencies.
Earlier in March, The Washington Free Beacon exposed that JPL had moved Rajendra into a newly renamed position in an attempt to keep her on board, even after the official DEI department was dissolved. Nevertheless, a recent internal memo to all employees, written by JPL Director Laurie Leshin, confirmed that Rajendra is no longer employed at the organization.
"Neela Rajendra is no longer an employee at [the Jet Propulsion Laboratory]," Leshin's message stated. "We are extremely thankful for the enduring contributions she made to our organization. We wish her the very best."
Leshin also said that the newly created Office of Team Excellence and Employee Success—that was created to replace the DEI office that had been headed by Rajendra—is now under the Office of Human Resources.
So far, Neela Rajendra's profile has been deleted from the JPL website's "Who We Are" page, which now displays a "404 Page not found" message when accessed. This is just a week after news came out that Rajendra was not one of the 900 JPL employees who were let go in 2024 due to federal budget cuts.
A Title Change That Didn't Last
Since JPL disassembled its core DEI office in March, Rajendra was kept on under the newly branded position of "head of employee success," which dropped words like "diversity" and "inclusion" from her title. Still, her responsibilities did not change much. Under a March 10 internal memo quoted by The Washington Free Beacon, her new department continued to fund initiatives like affinity groups, such as the Black Excellence Strategic Team (B.E.S.T.).
Rajendra's persistent presence at JPL had raised eyebrows against the backdrop of a recent controversy involving two stranded NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station for nine months because of a malfunctioning propulsion system. The incident provoked questions about whether NASA's investments in DEI made any difference in fundamental operating areas such as safety and performance.
In a 2022 public statement, Rajendra had criticized SpaceX in public, attacking the company's "fast-paced" work culture and its insufficient attention to DEI, which she asserted resulted in increased employee turnover. Ironically, it was a SpaceX vehicle that eventually performed the rescue and brought the astronauts back to Earth.
NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have yet to release an official comment on Rajendra's resignation.
Trump's Executive Order Targets DEI Programs
President Trump's March executive order, "Restoring the Values of Individual Dignity, Hard Work, and Excellence," has spurred a broad federal DEI reversal. The directive stresses that recruitment and hiring within the U.S. Foreign Service—and by association, other federal institutions—should not be guided by a person's race, religion, sex, or national origin.
The U.S. government will not make Foreign Service recruitment, hiring, promotion or retention decisions based on a person's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, nor will it lodge discriminatory equity ideology within any aspect of the Foreign Service," the order declared.
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