Before DEI almost all our interns were kids of employees. Now they are almost all DEI candidates, either way is always some special group. I assume the same is true in university
If you think professors care much about DEI when it comes to hiring students for their research labs, I have a bridge to sell you. Professors don't seem to have DEI as one of the primary metrics tied to their performance and financial compensation. They might have some, but I've never seen it, though I've definitely seen those metrics being a significant factor in performance review for some org directors in the industry.
My (and that of everyone I know) experience with undergrad research was more like just taking a class with a professor, checking out their research papers, finding their research topics interesting enough, having a chat with the professor after the class or sending an email asking if their lab is looking for research assistants, meeting up with the professor to have an informal conversation to decide whether this is a good fit and whether it is a potential publication opportunity, and that was pretty much it.
Caveat to this: only talking about STEM fields, as I have zero idea how sociology/psychology/etc. labs hire researchers or even operate at all.
My (and that of everyone I know) experience with undergrad research was more like just taking a class with a professor, checking out their research papers, finding their research topics interesting enough, having a chat with the professor after the class or sending an email asking if their lab is looking for research assistants, meeting up with the professor to have an informal conversation to decide whether this is a good fit and whether it is a potential publication opportunity, and that was pretty much it.
Caveat to this: only talking about STEM fields, as I have zero idea how sociology/psychology/etc. labs hire researchers or even operate at all.