Smithsonian to close diversity office after Trump order

The Smithsonian Institution told employees Tuesday that it is closing its diversity office, following organizations across the federal government that have complied with President Donald Trump’s recent executive order that declared diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives to be “illegal and immoral discrimination programs.”

The organization is also freezing federal hiring immediately and instating a five-day return-to-office policy, according to an email to Smithsonian staff obtained by The Washington Post.

In the staff email, Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III described the diversity office’s closure as a “first step” to address the new federal policy. It is unclear how many staffers at the public-private institution are affected.

The Smithsonian hires both federal employees and others in “trust” positions paid from various private sources. The hiring freeze, enacted “given Smithsonian’s uncertain federal budget picture” for this fiscal year, will not affect trust positions or internal promotions, Bunch wrote.

“Our core values of fairness and equity for all remain unchanged,” Bunch wrote. His email also sought to reassure staff that the Smithsonian would “continue to use every tool at our disposal to find and nurture excellence in our workforce” and “demand that our workplace is free from discrimination and harassment.”

As of Tuesday afternoon, links to some pages on the Smithsonian’s website referring to diversity policy were broken. The Smithsonian declined to comment about the links or make Bunch available for an interview.

“Our Institution is fully committed to excellence in our workforce, free from discrimination and harassment. We are closing our Office of Diversity but retaining our efforts at visitor accessibility as it serves a critical function,” spokesperson Philip Zimmerman said in an email to The Post.

Access Smithsonian, an initiative aimed at helping visitors with disabilities access the museums’ programming that was absorbed into the diversity office in 2022, will continue under the name “Visitor Accessibility.”

The decision comes days after the separate National Gallery of Art closed its diversity office and reassigned its staff in the wake of Trump’s executive order. The gallery, which previously had “diversity, equity, access and inclusion” listed as its values on its website, replaced the phrase with “welcoming and accessible.” At the time Bunch told staff the Smithsonian was examining the administration’s new policies.

The Smithsonian Institution, which calls itself “the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex,” features 21 museums and the National Zoo. As its leader, Bunch, the former founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, has championed efforts to tell “the full American story” and has supported giving prominent place to the institution’s two new museums focused on women’s history and Latino history and culture. They were established by Congress in late 2020, and years-long efforts to fully open them are underway.

Bunch reiterated that message in his email Tuesday. “We have long told the stories and embraced the experiences of all Americans,” he wrote, “and we will keep doing so in line with our mission.”

The Smithsonian was created by Congress in 1846 after a British scientist left his estate to the federal government. The institution, which has congressional oversight, has a federal budget of more than $1 billion, but it is not considered a traditional government agency. It operates as a trust with a board of regents that includes members from all three branches of government.

According to the Smithsonian’s 2023 annual report, 53 percent of its funding comes from federal appropriations, while the rest comes from contributions, grants, endowments and more.