The document discusses crisis management strategies and provides examples of crises faced by universities. It describes Springfest 2010 at James Madison University where 8,000 students gathered, bottles were thrown, and police used tear gas and pepper spray to control the situation. It also details the Duke lacrosse scandal where three players were falsely accused of rape before charges were dropped. Finally, it examines Penn State's handling of the Jerry Sandusky child abuse scandal and failure to properly report incidents over many years. The document advocates for proper crisis planning, leadership, communication, and prevention strategies.

1. CRISIS
AVERTED!

2. CRISIS MANAGEMENT
Liesa Brauch, Jason Meyer, Luke Carpenter,
Meghan McDonald & Ross Phillips

3. WHO WE ARE
 EWS Consulting Firm
 Consult with various companies on the topic of
organizational communication
 Specialty = crisis management

4. WHAT IS A CRISIS?
 “An event that is an unpredictable, major threat that
can have a negative effect on the organization,
industry, or stakeholders if handled improperly.” –
W.T. Coombs

5. THREESTAGESOFACRISIS
Katrina Example:
Having road and
transportation
systems better
equipped during the
Hurricane season
Hurricane Katrina
strikes New
Orleans head on as
a major hurricane
FEMA‟s response
(or lack thereof)
and the city‟s
devastation
 Precrisis
 Organizational members can work to
prevent or prepare for possible problems
 Crisis
 A trigger that causes unplanned
change, threatens the organization
survival and/or reputation
 Much uncertainty as people try to
decipher what happened
 Postcrisis
 Determining responsibility and
establishing systems to cope with future
problems

6. LEADERSHIP IN A CRISIS
 Everyone be informed, but…
 Someone to take the reins and support appropriate
efforts
 Must be prepared to deal with all facets of the crisis
 Who are exemplar crisis leaders?

7. MEDIA STRATEGIES
 Breaking news stage
 Finger pointing stage
 Reputation-forming
stage
 Fallout stage
Fact Finding Unfolding Drama
Blame Game Resolution

8. IMAGE RESTORATION & RENEWAL
 The organization as a rhetorical enterprise
 Renewal
 Inherently good
 Prospective
 Optimistic
 Leader-based

9. USING SOCIAL MEDIA
 Living in the future
 Interested in establishing online reputation
 Two invaluable tools
 Holding statement
 Dark site

10. CRISIS-RESPONSE STRATEGIES
 Nonexistence
 Distance
 Ingratiation
 Mortification
 Suffering

11. GROUP
BREAKOUT

12. CRISIS IN THE UNIVERSITY
 60% of colleges have done little to nothing with crisis
management
 Universities should have plan that includes talking points
and an outline of communication flow
 Better to be more open with communication to avoid
possible litigation
 “Transparency is not just about being a good person and
getting all the information out there. It‟s about protecting
the institution.” – Peter Mancusi (Weber Shandwick)

13. JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY
Pepper Spray and Tear Gas

14. JMU BACKGROUND
 Harrisonburg, Va.
 Predominately white, 13.6% ethnic minorities
 Of on-campus undergrads, 59.5% female and
40.5% male
 22,221 applications were completed, a class of
4,001 freshman were accepted
 Student body is around 18,671
 School motto: “changing the world, one person at a
time”

15. JMU SPRINGFEST 2010
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-
mIflgx0bZQ&feature=related
 April 9th and 10th of 2010
 Over 8,000 students and visitors
 Bottles thrown and dumpsters on fire
 200 officers
 Arrests made
 Property damage to apartments
 JMU president sent statement out after events
occurred

16. HOW JMU HANDLED SPRINGFEST
 Precrisis:
 Event had occurred in past
 University aware of Facebook Event
 Crisis:
 200 Cops from JMU, Harrisonburg and surrounding area
 Quickly handled situation
 Riot gear, pepper spray, tear gas
 http://www.inquisitr.com/69526/jmu-springfest-2010-riot/
 Use of force was controversial – was it necessary?
 Postcrisis:
 JMU president issued statement
 Alcohol policies at JMU were changed
 Facebook monitored more closely

17. GROUP DISCUSSION
 How could this situation have been handled
differently? What would you have done?
 Why do you think this situation occurred?
 Do you feel the cops‟ actions were justified? What
would you change?
 How could this situation be prevented in the future?

18. DUKE LACROSSE SCANDAL

19. ABOUT DUKE UNIVERSITY
 Created in 1924 by James Buchanan Duke as a
memorial to his father, Washington Duke.
 Located in Durham, North Carolina
 6,526 undergraduates
 47% of undergraduates are white

20. THE SCANDAL
 March 14, 2006: Rape allegations come to two lacrosse
players
 April 5, 2006: Season cancelled and coach resigns
 DNA test results find no match between the players
tested and the woman accusing the players of rape
 Two team members charged for rape, sexual offense and
kidnapping
 A third member of the team was charged as well on 5/15/06
 December 22, 2006: rape charges were dropped for the
three accused players.

21. WHAT DUKE DID
 Reluctant to release information at first
 Gave no support towards players
 Players harassed in classrooms
 Mishandled police lineup
 Protests outside presidents office
 Racial issue
 Allowed players to attend classes for new
semester in January

22. WHAT SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED
Should Duke have conducted its own
investigation along with former D.A. Mike
Nifong?
Did Duke treat the players appropriately?
Can a situation like this be prevented in the
future?

23. 2010 NCAA D-1 NATIONAL
CHAMPIONS

24. FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
ATHLETIC CHEATING SCANDAL

25. FLORIDA STATE CHEATING SCANDAL
 Background
 18 Varsity Teams ( 8 Men and 10 Women )
 12 National Championships
 100+ Conference Titles
 1993 and 1999 Football National Champions
 Florida State ranks in the top 25 Public Universities in
academic programs such as
Physics, Chemistry, Statistics, Political Science and
Business and Law.
 Strong convictions for being an upstanding school that
values good morals in order to educate its students in a
fair environment.

26. THE SCANDAL
 In 2007, 61 student athletes across 6 Varsity sports
teams were convicted of cheating (“improper help”).
 Staffers and faculty members helped students on
an online music history course in the fall of 2006
and summer of 2007.
 Scandal was considered “extremely serious”

27. RESPONSE TO THE SCANDAL
 The university immediately issued a release in
order to challenge any attempt of the school being
stripped of their victories.
 “Our position throughout the inquiry was that as
soon as we knew of a problem, they didn‟t play” -
Former Florida State President T.K Wetherell
 Florida State conducted its own investigation on the
situation
 25 Football players were suspended and were
unable to travel to the 2007 Music City Bowl
 Reduced punishment from the NCAA because
Florida state accepted the blame.

28. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
 Do you think Florida State did a good job at
handling the situation?
 If not how would you have handled it?
 How would you rebuild your universities image after
such a scandal?

29. THE PENN STATE CRISIS

30. BACKGROUND
 1969: Sandusky joins Penn State coaching staff
 1977: creates the Second Mile foundation
 1999: Sandusky retires from Penn State
 2000: janitor witnesses abuse, no charges filed
 2002: graduate assistant witnesses abuse, no charges filed
 never questioned by police
 2010: Sandusky steps down from Second Mile
 Nov. 5, 2011: Sandusky charged with 40 counts of sexual
abuse

32. WHAT WENT WRONG
 Failure to plan
 Failure to report
 Failure to show concern
 Failure to put a face on the message
 Failure of public accountability

33. WHAT THEY DIDN‟T SAY
 March 2011: Harrisburg Patriot-News first reports
investigation  Penn State declines to comment
 Nov. 8, 2011: Paterno‟s press conference abruptly
cancelled  fired the following day
 "When you say nothing, when you cancel a press
conference or say he won't speak about it, there's a
perception there's something to hide.”
 Crisis consultant Mike Paul of MGP & Associates PR, New
York

34. DISCUSSION
 When and how much information would you have
disclosed to the public if you were the president of
Penn State?

35. VIRGINIATECHMASSACRE
APRIL16,2007
“We are Virginia
Tech.
We are sad
today, and we will
be sad for quite a
while. We are not
moving on, we are
embracing our
mourning.
We are strong
enough to stand tall
tearlessly, we are
brave enough to
bend to cry, and we
are sad enough to
know that we must
laugh again.
We are Virginia
Tech.
We are the Hokies.
We will prevail.”
-Nikki Giovanni

36. TIMELINE OF EVENTS
 7:15 am – shooting at West
Ambler Johnson (West AJ)
Hall
 8:10 am – President Steger
learns of West AJ tragedy
 8:50 am – administration
attempts to alert students
but technical difficulties
prevail
 8:52 am – Blacksburg
Public Schools go into
lockdown
 9:01 am – Cho sends
package to NBC Studios,
NYC
 9:15 am – Norris Hall main
entry doors chained shut
 9:26 am – university
receives email regarding
West AJ shooting
 9:40 am – second shooting
begins in Norris Hall, 2nd
floor which claims 30 lives
 9:50 am – second email
delivered to university with
instructions to stay indoors
and away from windows
 9:51 am – gunfire ceases
 10:17 am – classes
cancelled
 12:00 noon – President
Steger holds first press
conference related to the
massacre

37. REACTION
 Candlelight vigil held and attended by thousands
 President Steger received praise and vilification for the
university‟s actions
 Gov. Tim Kaine established the Virginia Tech Review
Panel to investigate the events surrounding the tragedy
 Fine of $55,000 by Department of Education
 Appealed
 Later overturned
 School exceeded enrollment quota for Class of 2011 by
over 100 students

38. VT ALERTS
 Launched August 2007
 Text messages
 Emails
 Desktop widget
 One of the most advanced and efficient emergency
notification systems in the country
 Tested under dire circumstances December 8, 2011
when Virginia Tech Police Officer gunned down
 Police notified minutes before 12:30 pm
 First of six VT alerts sent to university body at 12:36 pm

39. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1) Did Virginia Tech handle communication during
the 4/16 crisis efficiently? How does it compare to
the other schools we‟ve discussed today?
2) What would you have done differently in any of
these scenarios?

40. ANY
QUESTIONS,
COMMENTS OR
CONCERNS?

41. THANK YOU!

42. REFERENCES
 Liesa Brauch
 Banting, E. (2011, April 7). Alcohol policies change student attitudes. Retrieved from http://www.breezejmu.org/news/article_50967a82-60b1-11e0-
b302-001a4bcf6878.html
 Buckley, G. (2011, April 4). Block party Facebook event cancelled after warnings. Retrieved from http://www.breezejmu.org/news/article_3b3aa552-
5e57-11e0-97f4-0019bb30f31a.html
 James Madison University. Changing the world one person at a time. Retrieved from http://www.jmu.edu/jmuweb/aboutJMU/
 JMU Institutional Research (2010, April 9). JMU Performance Measures. Retrieved from
http://oirsacs.jmu.edu/PerfMeasures/CategoryMeasures.asp?Catid=Demographics
 Johnson, J. (2010, April 12). James Madison block party turns into riot. Retrieved from http://voices.washingtonpost.com/campus-
overload/2010/04/james_madison_block_party_turn.html
 LaCapria, K. (2010, April 11). JMU Springfest turns into riot, dozens of arrests made. Retrieved from http://www.inquisitr.com/69526/jmu-springfest-
2010-riot/
 Rose, L. H. (2010). Springfest: Message from President Rose. Retrieved from http://www.jmu.edu/jmuweb/general/news/general11151.shtml
 Sirney, A. (2010, April 12). Police use tear gas and pepper spray to disperse block party. Retrieved from http://hburgnews.com/2010/04/10/hpd-asks-
non-residents-to-clear-springfest/
 Jason Meyer
 Andersen, K. (2006, October 8). Rape, justice, and the „times‟. New York Magazine, Retrieved from http://nymag.com/news/imperialcity/22337
 Dewan, S. (2007, September 8). Duke prosecutor jailed; students seek settlement . New York Times. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/08/us/08duke.html?ref=michaelbnifong
 Duke case chronology. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/elements/2006/04/19/in_depth_us/timeline1515358.shtml
 Looking back at the duke lacrosse case. (2007, May). Retrieved from http://today.duke.edu/showcase/lacrosseincident/
 Shannon, G. (2010, May 29). Duke, notre dame roll toward a historic title game.
 Retrieved from http://insidelacrosse.com/news/2010/05/29/duke-notre-dame-roll-toward-a-historic-title-game
 Wilson, D., & Bernstein, V. (2006, April 6). Duke cancels lacrosse season and initiates critiques . New York Times. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/06/sports/06duke.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1

43. REFERENCES, CONT‟D
 Luke Carpenter
 About Florida State. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.fsu.edu/about/
 Florida State releases documents on cheating case. (2009, October 19). Retrieved from
 http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/12362828
 FSU penalized for cheating scandal. (2009, March 07). Retrieved from
 http://www.timesleader.com/sports/collegesports/FSU_penalized_for_cheating_scandal_03-07-2009.html
 Meghan McDonald
 College Board. (2012). Penn State University Park. The College Board. Retrieved from
https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-university-search/penn-state-university-park
 Jordan-Meier, J.. (2011, August). Crisis Management. Leadership Excellence, 28(8), 4. Retrieved from
ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 2428789621).
 Manfield, L. (2011). Every crisis is a social media crisis. Backbone, 20-24.
 McLean, A. & Sablich, J. (2011). Timeline: The Penn State Scandal. NY Times. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/11/11/sports/ncaafootball/sandusky.html
 Rovell, Darren. (2011). Penn State Gets An F In Crisis Management 101. CNBC. Retrieved from
http://www.cnbc.com/id/45206255/Penn_State_Gets_An_F_In_Crisis_Management_101
 Syme, Chris. (2011). 5 Strategic Crisis Failures: Learning from Penn State. Retrieved from http://cksyme.org/5-
strategic-crisis-failures-learning-from-penn-state
 Tsikoudakis, Mike. (2011). Penn State abuse scandal sharpens focus on risks: Colleges expected to review
practices in wake of crisis. Business Insurance, 45(45), 1. Retrieved February 13, 2012, from ABI/INFORM
Global. (Document ID: 2519004811).

44. REFERENCES, CONT‟D
 Ross Phillips
 About the Office. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.recover.vt.edu/
 Carlson, S. (2010, February 16). For a campus in crisis, the president's voice is key. Retrieved from
http://chronicle.com/article/For-a-Campus-in-Crisis-the/64220/
 Charles, D. (30, August 2007). Report faults Virginia Tech response in shootings. Retrieved from
http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/08/30/us-usa-shooting-report-idUSN2925438020070830?
 Fain, P. (2008, April 18). In a turbulent year, Virginia Tech rallied behind its president. Retrieved from
http://chronicle.com/article/In-a-Turbulent-Year-Virgin/32529/
 Giovanni, N. (2007, April 17). [Video Tape Recording]. We are Virginia Tech., Retrieved from
http://www.remembrance.vt.edu/2007/archive/giovanni_transcript.html
 McCaney, K. (2011, December 08). Virginia Tech alert system helps lock down campus after shootings. Retrieved from
http://gcn.com/articles/2011/12/08/virginia-tech-
 Mission and core values. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.president.vt.edu/strategic-plan/mission-values.html
 Owczarski, M. (2007, May 17). Virginia Tech prepares to welcome class of 2011;
university exceeds enrollment goal. Retrieved from http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2007/05/2007-290.html
 Sullivan, A. (2011, December 09). Virginia Tech alert system faster than UI. Retrieved from
http://www.dailyiowan.com/2011/12/09/Metro/26332.html
 Systems Planning Corporation, TriData Division. (2009).Mass shootings at
Virginia Tech. Retrieved from website: http://www.governor.virginia.gov/TempContent/techPanelReport-
docs/VT_Addendum_12-2-2009.pdf
 Virginia Tech. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.princetonreview.com/virginiatech.aspx
 Virginia Tech president defends security response. (2007, April 17). Retrieved from http://articles.cnn.com/2007-04-
17/us/campus.security_1_buildings-until-further-notice-campus-police-west-ambler-johnston-hall?_s=PM:US

45. REFERENCES, CONT‟D
 Photos
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http://www.technobuffalo.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Twitter-Logo.png
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 http://i.huffpost.com/gen/77027/thumbs/s-MYSPACE-large.jpg
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