Berkeley lab resumes diversity initiatives killed by Trump.
One of the two federally funded Bay Area labs that scrapped their diversity program because of a new Trump administration directive said it will reinstate the initiative, according to a memo reviewed by The Chronicle.
The resurrection of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s diversity, equity and inclusion program comes after lab Director Mike Witherell told employees that the program would be suspended on orders from the White House, which recently called such initiatives “unAmerican propaganda training sessions.”
The Berkeley lab is managed by the University of California, but funded largely by taxpayer dollars through the Department of Energy. More than 1,400 scientists and engineers work at the lab, which conducts unclassified research across several disciplines.
In another memo over the weekend, Witherell said a review of the lab’s diversity initiatives, combined with “clarified guidance” from the DOE, found that trainings offered at the Berkeley lab “are not of concern.”
“In the unlikely event that the Lab leadership needs more information about a specific pro
gram, we will directly contact the person who runs that program,” Witherell wrote. “Unless you hear otherwise, you should continue with the conversations and programs that you had planned.”
It’s unclear what type of clarified guidance the lab received; a Berkeley lab spokesperson referred questions to the DOE. Energy Department spokeswoman Shaylyn Hynes said Tuesday the programs at
Berkeley “and across the entire DOE enterprise are still under review.”
In a Sept. 4 memo to all the heads of executive branch departments and federal agencies, Russell Vought, director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, derided racialsensitivity trainings, saying they run counter to the fundamental beliefs on which America was founded and “engender division and resentment within the Federal workforce.”
Vought cited unspecified “press reports” that claimed federal employees have been required to attend trainings where they were taught that “virtually all White people contribute to racism,” and were told to acknowledge that they benefit from racism.
“We cannot accept our employees receiving training that seeks to undercut our core val
“Unless you hear otherwise, you should continue with the conversations and programs that you had planned.”
Mike Witherell, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory director in a memo to staff
ues as Americans and drive division within our workforce,” Vought wrote. “The President has directed me to ensure that Federal agencies cease and desist from using taxpayer dollars to fund these divisive, unAmerican propaganda training sessions.”
That memo represented one of the latest efforts by the Trump administration to curb trainings and teachings it considers to be un-American. This month, Trump convened an education commission intended to reinstate “patriotism” in American schools.
As of Tuesday, the Berkeley lab’s diversity website still included information and training sessions about topics like implicit bias and racism.
Another lab run partly by UC but funded by the DOE, The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, also suspended parts of its diversity training, The Chronicle reported last week. Lynda Seaver, a spokeswoman for the Livermore lab, said the training seminars that were postponed pending review by the DOE are expected to be rescheduled “in the near future.”