​Eric Lander Left the White House Under a Cloud. Now He’s Back at Work, and Not Everyone’s Happy.

On President Biden's former science advisor.

Happy new year. Today, the Broad Institute announced that Eric Lander — who went on leave to serve as President Biden’s science adviser, then resigned last year after a White House investigation found that he had bullied and demeaned subordinates — would be returning and running a lab.

This announcement came on the same morning that The Boston Globe ran a reported opinion piece suggesting that the famed geneticist had been unfairly pilloried for the complaints of “a vocal few” that did not hold up to closer examination. That conclusion was based on interviews with more than 20 of Lander’s colleagues at the Broad and elsewhere.

In my latest story for The Chronicle of Higher Education, I report on some employees inside the Broad who aren’t as sure there’s nothing to worry about — and say the institution hasn’t addressed their concerns to prevent such alleged behavior from repeating itself.

… Inside the institute, the news was met with surprise and alarm from dozens of researchers and other staffers. Some had previously speculated that Lander’s return was imminent after he was photographed in December at a ceremony for an award that bears his name. Yet at a town hall that month, Jesse Souweine, the chief operating officer, had told Broad employees that Lander’s leave would last “through January 2023, so any question about his return is being handled with the board. So I don’t have any new news to report,” according to video obtained by The Chronicle. When The Chronicle asked in mid-December when the board of directors would make a decision, a Broad spokesperson said there was no timeframe.

In a Slack forum viewable to all employees on Friday, Broad employees expressed frustration that the decision had seemingly been made without staff input, according to screenshots obtained by The Chronicle. And they noted that Golub’s message had not mentioned information they felt relevant — for instance, whether the institute had conducted its own investigation into Lander’s behavior, whether or what Lander had learned from his experience in the White House, whether his behavior will be monitored upon his return to a leadership role, or whether measures would be taken to safeguard members of his lab.

“With Eric Lander’s return to the Broad now official, does anyone else feel like it’s weird how much his resignation from the WH has been skimmed over?” one staffer asked the Slack channel. “The messaging here seems very vague. I’m curious also about how this decision was made — who was consulted, and whose voices were listened to?” Forty people responded with an arrow emoji pointing to the statement, and three people responded with the exploding-head emoji.

You can read more about what employees are saying — and the Broad’s response to my questions — here.