Smithsonian filled leadership roles with DEI-focused liberal staffers

As Republicans intensify their scrutiny of the Smithsonian Institution, scores of former Democratic staffers and employees of progressive nonprofits have held senior positions across the nonprofit, while hiring officials have emphasized diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

A Fox News Digital review of public biographies and social media profiles identified nearly two dozen people employed by the Smithsonian in leadership positions or as curators who worked in Democratic offices or progressive nonprofits before being hired. Leadership biographies and political donation records show that this pattern extends beyond a handful of senior staffers.

Former Democratic staffers and people formerly employed by liberal nonprofits now hold leadership positions at the Smithsonian, likely further fueling conservative criticism that the growing museum and research organization has developed a left-of-center bias.

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In recent weeks, Republicans have accused the Smithsonian, particularly the National Museum of American History, of promoting progressive ideology, emphasizing identity politics and not paying enough attention to the nation’s founding and traditional historical figures. Republican lawmakers and the Trump administration have also criticized certain exhibits that address gender identity, diversity and social justice, arguing that museum leaders allow political activism to replace unbiased presentation of history.

These allegations come after years of DEI-centered leadership.

Roshni LalThe director of the Smithsonian’s office of academic appointments and internships, who had significant influence over staffing, had a career-long commitment to advancing DEI in hiring, professional biographies show.

Lal was previously director of diversity, equity and inclusion for the Mountain Pacific Association of Colleges and Employers; He oversaw policies, training and programs that he described as anti-racist and grounded in social justice, according to his Smithsonian biography. He also held DEI-related roles at the Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Colleges and Employers before joining the Smithsonian, according to Lal’s LinkedIn page.

in 2024 podcast viewLal described his commitment to “identity-based career services,” in part through connecting “students of color” through “culturally inclusive” job placements.

Publicly available Smithsonian biographies show that many curators at the National Museum of American History describe their work as focusing on themes of race, identity, and social justice, which are also evident in the museum’s various exhibitions and initiatives.

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The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History is being called out for being ‘ideologically hijacked’ and evoking revisionist history on the weekend of America’s 250th birthday. (Kevin Carter)

Available minister For example, the political history department of the National Museum of American History, which is responsible for overseeing exhibits on American presidents, also oversees exhibits at the Smithsonian. Restorative History CenterThe organization says on its website that it exists to bring together “diverse voices” and “highlight people and stories that have been left out of our national narrative, using the principles of restorative justice.”

between the center flagship programs It is an effort to preserve the history of the Black Lives Matter movement by centering the perspectives of activists and a “decolonization working group,” according to its website.

Many other curators at the National Museum of American History approach their work with a similar focus on racial identity, according to Smithsonian biographies. Among these “Planting social justice in the Americas” through exhibition works multiple academics WHO firstly to work race.

Lal will begin his tenure at the Smithsonian in November 2023. premiseObama, who held this position for 11 years starting in 2012, previously worked in the Clinton White House, the Obama State Department and as a special assistant to then-Sen. Hillary Clinton, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Lal did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital Tuesday.

“The Smithsonian is a nonpartisan institution and politics do not influence our hiring practices,” a spokesperson for the institution told Fox News Digital. “Our hiring is based solely on qualifications that can fulfill the responsibilities of any position.”

Leadership at the Smithsonian is not monolithic. The agency’s chief legal officer worked in the Bush administration and was chief of staff to the agency’s regents, clerking for Chief Justice John G. Roberts at the Supreme Court as well as for Judge Brett Kavanaugh during his tenure on D.C.’s federal appeals court, according to corporate biographies.

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The Smithsonian National Museum of American History, closed due to the federal government shutdown, on Sunday, October 12, 2025 in Washington DC, USA. Sunday was the first day that Smithsonian Institution museums, which include the National Zoo, were closed due to a deadlock between Senate Democrats and Republicans over extending health care subsidies, blocking passage of a spending bill and prompting a government shutdown. ( )

Republicans in Congress have held two hearings to investigate allegations that the Smithsonian National Museum of American History used taxpayer money to promote leftist narratives about race, gender and oppression and belittle the country’s founding ideals and achievements. After the hearings, conservative lawmakers are expected to use Congress’ spending authority to restrict the Smithsonian’s funding to pressure it to remove exhibits they deem inappropriate.

“These leaders have seized an institution that the nation has entrusted to them to ensure the transmission, and therefore the perpetuation, of American culture and heritage, and have turned it, on the contrary, into a hothouse for anti-American activism,” Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, said in testimony at the Smithsonian convention on July 21. he said. “These leaders often reveal, in their own words, that they see the world in terms of power dynamics, who has control, and how they can take that power away from them by shattering the American narrative that is all Marxist and Gramscian.”

Other senior Smithsonian staffers from the left of center, according to LinkedIn profiles and other online biographies, include the chief librarian of the National Museum of American History, who previously worked for the liberal Urban Institute; an advisory board member who was a senior staffer to the late Senator Dianne Feinstein; The institution’s undersecretary for education, who served as deputy undersecretary for education during the Obama administration; Smithsonian’s deputy director of advancement for strategic initiatives from the NAACP; and communications director for the National Museum of American History, who worked as a senior staffer in the House Democratic leadership before joining the institution.

Curators with liberal backgrounds, according to LinkedIn profiles and online biographies include the recently departed director of curatorial affairs at the National Portrait Gallery, who, by the way, has held multiple DEI-related positions at universities; Associate curator at the National Museum of the American Indian, involved in a militant civil rights organization in the 1970s; and curator of time-based media at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, who previously worked at a feminist art gallery.

For review purposes, Fox News Digital rated groups that were clearly aligned with the Democratic Party or focused on issues like environmentalism, racial justice or left-of-center economic policy as liberal.

The Smithsonian has approximately 6,400 full-time employees with varying degrees of public credentials. Fox News Digital’s review covered a relatively small slice of that total; It focused on public leaders at the top of the institution, as well as leaders at the National Museum of American History and people who identify themselves as curators on LinkedIn.

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While it is impossible to obtain a full account of the political beliefs of the Smithsonian’s senior staff and curators from public records alone, political donations may provide some insight.

Just 1% of donations from people who identify as Smithsonian employees went to Republican committees this cycle. based on Campaign finance records reviewed by Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital has reached out to every Smithsonian employee named for comment.