My DEI statement was exclusively about helping students who arrived at college without sufficient academic preparation to succeed: helping first-gen students na

My DEI statement was exclusively about helping students who arrived at college without sufficient academic preparation to succeed: helping first-gen students navigate their freshman year, making sure naive students know how to think about weeder courses, volunteering at high schools to help with college prep, etc. I'm a white straight male and my DEI statement did not mention ethnicity or gender. I was consistently told it was one of the best DEI statements the faculty had ever read. I have no doubt that DEI statements get used in ridiculous and stupid ways; Academia is full of ridiculous and stupid things and that's why I left. But they do get used well at some institutions.