Most companies did social initiatives badly. They're hard to do well, and so a lot of companies never made more than a nod at them. They didn't help and attracted pushback. Given an administration that turned push into shove, it's not much of a surprise that they got rid of it.
Still... as badly as these initiatives are done, it should have at least impressed on you that there was a problem there to be solved. Maybe DEI wouldn't solve it; maybe it can't be solved. But I really think their statements should have been "We maintain a commitment to fairness and an equal opportunity for everybody, and we'll keep looking for ways to engage even if this initiative turned out not to be it."
As it is, it looked more like "thank God we no longer have to pretend that we don't hate minorities".
Most companies did social initiatives badly. They're hard to do well, and so a lot of companies never made more than a nod at them. They didn't help and attracted pushback. Given an administration that turned push into shove, it's not much of a surprise that they got rid of it.
Still... as badly as these initiatives are done, it should have at least impressed on you that there was a problem there to be solved. Maybe DEI wouldn't solve it; maybe it can't be solved. But I really think their statements should have been "We maintain a commitment to fairness and an equal opportunity for everybody, and we'll keep looking for ways to engage even if this initiative turned out not to be it."
As it is, it looked more like "thank God we no longer have to pretend that we don't hate minorities".