Report suggests colleges are prone to crises, threats of violence
University presidents should be adept at safety preparedness, communication, researchers say
College presidents today must be prepared to manage their campuses’ reputations and maintain student safety amid manmade and natural crises, a report out this fall from the Journal of Education Advancement and Marketing found.
“Crisis-prone” universities are vulnerable to threats of violence due to their open access to the public and other risks in an era of student protest and political division, State University of New York at Albany professor Eric Stern and communications administrator Joseph Brennan wrote in the report.
“This has significant implications for the way that universities select and prepare not only their leaders, but also those who advise and support top leadership in crisis situations,” they wrote.
Texas campuses in 2017 perhaps typified the crises — both man-made and natural — that universities must navigate.
Universities and colleges in Houston feared
the worst when Hurricane Harvey approached. Though largely physically unscathed, campuses here had to assist their students, many of whom suffered damaged homes, and reorganize course schedules.
Presidents and other university administrators communicated often with students and their families in an effort to ease concerns and spread important information.
Violence near the University of Virginia’s campus put schools nationwide on edge as students and staff feared that protests would turn violent at their colleges, too.
A white nationalist shortly after announced a White Lives Matter event at Texas A&M University for Sept. 11, which the university later canceled. Regents supported the university’s decision to call off the event.
One University of Texas at Austin student died in a stabbing by a fellow student in May as rumors spread on social media about a potential second attacker.
UT-Austin President Greg Fenves validated students’ feelings in a news conference after the attack: “There is fear, and that fear is justified. … We have lots of emotions, including fear and distrust, and we recognize there is tremendous pain among the student body.”
Colleges long recruited academics to lead their institutions, but in recent years, boards have hired leaders with business experience, recognizing that leading institutions with massive budgets and thousands of employees takes management expertise.
The fall report, however, indicates that communications expertise may also be a commodity.
The authors recommend that university leaders study reputational threats in addition to safety preparedness as they consider how to respond to crises.
Colleges and universities “sometimes seem to almost purposefully have been designed to produce crises,” the authors wrote, citing open access to criminals and the passionate debate that occurs on college campuses.