At a Silicon Valley off-site meeting in February for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan were asked to reassure their staff about their philanthropy鈥檚 approach to diversity, equity and inclusion.
Dr. Chan, a pediatrician, spoke first. She told employees that words such as D.E.I. would be de-emphasized internally, according to four attendees, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the confidential meeting. But, Dr. Chan insisted in lengthy remarks, the charitable organization鈥檚 commitment would not change.
Then Mr. Zuckerberg, Meta鈥檚 chief executive, chimed in. Their philanthropy was going to hire the best talent for the job, he said bluntly.
Within days, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative ended diversity-based recruiting and laid off or reassigned employees who ran diversity initiatives, scrubbing its website of all references. A few months later, a school for low-income students that Dr. Chan had founded announced it was closing. The philanthropy also axed its work in housing, its most progressive remaining project.