Colleges and universities are typically going to encounter DEI-related issues more than other levels of schools. As one progresses in grade from K to college, schools tend to get larger and draw from larger areas (small neighborhood → large neighborhood → city → region, state, or nation) that mostly get more diverse (in many aspects including race/ethnicity, religion, and SES). A college that wants to be attractive (from a marketing perspective) to the largest range of potential students* typically feels that it needs to handle DEI-related issues in a way that enhances, or at least does not degrade, its attractiveness to potential students*. Of course, this can be a difficult problem if doing or not doing something DEI-related is important for one large group of potential students* but is opposed by another large group of potential students*.
Similar can apply over a much longer term (due to the slowness of faculty turnover and the small number of non-adjunct faculty job openings every year) for faculty. Hamline may have bungled DEI and academic freedom all at once from both left and right perspectives, but the effect on its faculty recruiting and hiring may take quite a while to be noticed.
*Or their parents.