The book Truth and Consequences: How Colleges and Universities Meet Public Crises outlines nine case studies of public crises at the university level. Each entry thoroughly discusses the background of the crisis, the duration of the crisis, what the institution did wrong, what they did right, and what changes they made in handling the situation. It is important to have these discussions because we now live in a time that any organization, universities and higher education institutions included, must consider the public response when making all of its decisions and carrying out every action. Nothing can be kept private with today’s emergent technology and media outlets. This book does a good job explaining what universities should and should not do in certain crisis situations, even though there is no exact checklist to follow every single time a crisis breaks out.
Financial ambiguities, credibility issues, academic dishonesty, ethical dilemmas, illegal occurrences, and staff firings are all examined in the case studies in Truth and Consequences. One of the case studies the book examined was a crisis that occurred at Stanford University. There were many misunderstandings between the university and the government when Stanford underwent an indirect costs investigation, which led to a negative perception of the university. In the end, the settlement proved that Stanford was not guilty as charged, even though throughout the crisis the university was pressured to admit its wrongdoing, apologize, and promise to not repeat the offense. This study is a good example of open communication with the public and shows the importance of examining both university behavior and the behavior of outsiders, in this case the government and the media.
The case involving the University of Georgia’s academic dishonesty in regards to athletes, on the other hand, examines a situation that was not handled as openly. Instead of making the administration unavailable to the public, UGA should have focused on an open, two-way public discourse. It is important to have a proactive relationship with the press before a crisis happens so the situation is better handled when there is an actual crisis.
Universities should also seize all possible opportunities to have a prepared staff and a variety of strong plans and models ready to be implemented. University of Virginia’s drug raids and Brown University’s prostitution charges showed the important of having a trusted spokesperson that can be the main voice to the public, as well as having a skilled public information official in the loop from the start.
I would definitely recommend this book be used as a supplemental reading for crisis communications courses. The book gives a wide range of crisis examples that have happened in the university setting, explaining how they were handled and in some cases how they should have alternately been handled. It is especially applicable to students in the university setting every day. It is important to know how to handle these situations that may come up, learning from previous experiences.
Jordan Graves
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Financial ambiguities, credibility issues, academic dishonesty, ethical dilemmas, illegal occurrences, and staff firings are all examined in the case studies in Truth and Consequences. One of the case studies the book examined was a crisis that occurred at Stanford University. There were many misunderstandings between the university and the government when Stanford underwent an indirect costs investigation, which led to a negative perception of the university. In the end, the settlement proved that Stanford was not guilty as charged, even though throughout the crisis the university was pressured to admit its wrongdoing, apologize, and promise to not repeat the offense. This study is a good example of open communication with the public and shows the importance of examining both university behavior and the behavior of outsiders, in this case the government and the media.
The case involving the University of Georgia’s academic dishonesty in regards to athletes, on the other hand, examines a situation that was not handled as openly. Instead of making the administration unavailable to the public, UGA should have focused on an open, two-way public discourse. It is important to have a proactive relationship with the press before a crisis happens so the situation is better handled when there is an actual crisis.
Universities should also seize all possible opportunities to have a prepared staff and a variety of strong plans and models ready to be implemented. University of Virginia’s drug raids and Brown University’s prostitution charges showed the important of having a trusted spokesperson that can be the main voice to the public, as well as having a skilled public information official in the loop from the start.
I would definitely recommend this book be used as a supplemental reading for crisis communications courses. The book gives a wide range of crisis examples that have happened in the university setting, explaining how they were handled and in some cases how they should have alternately been handled. It is especially applicable to students in the university setting every day. It is important to know how to handle these situations that may come up, learning from previous experiences.
Jordan Graves
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill