I think the politics influenced them, but I think it's more of an example of how so many of the leaders of different institutions in the US are more worried about signalling that they are the right sort of people than they are about doing their job. From executives greenlighting advertisements that insult their business's core customers, to university leaders setting fire to their finances w/o any reasonable consideration of cost benefit or risk management, elected officials going out of their way to increase the pain felt by their citizens, university leaders basically announcing that they are violating federal civil rights laws and have been for decades despite the fact that it's probably not the case (at least not in the manner they are claiming; they probably have violated federal law in their discrimination against Asians).
An adult leader being worried about whether anyone thinks he/she is a "good person" is silly.
As a leader in the real world, you will NEVER be liked by everyone.
There will ALWAYS be someone out there who thinks you're an *******.
The sooner you accept that and get over it, the better off you will be.
Instead of worrying about whether someone likes you, a leader should instead focus all intellect/energy on making good decisions that will be improve his/her organization.
(NOTE: Whenever I use the pronoun "you" in the above post, I am simply referring to a generic adult leader. I am not referring to anyone in particular.)
