OU stresses intern safety after alumnus Lauer’s fi ring

It was just last week that “Today” show host Matt Lauer was singing Ohio University’s praises as the school’s marching band appeared in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

“This may be my favorite moment, from my alma mater Lauer apologizes; questions linger /

in Athens, Ohio ...” Lauer began as he introduced the band and its director during the televised parade program Thanksgiving morning.

Six days later, the students, alumni and faculty from the university to which he so proudly attached himself grappled with the news that the NBC network star had been fired from the “Today” show following allegations of “inappropriate sexual behavior.”

“You can’t help but feel like the balloon just got popped,” said Robert Stewart, director of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at OU.

Now, the school, with the help of its alumni, is forming a task force with student media leaders to determine how to best prepare, protect and support students during their time in outside internships.

“I think it could be a defining moment for how the faculty and the students and alumni come together on this pressing issue that we’re talking about as a society right now,” Stewart said.

Lauer is one of Ohio University’s most prominent

alumni. He attended the Athens school in the late 1970s, but left before his last semester to pursue his broadcasting career. He eventually completed his degree and graduated from the College of Communication in 1997.

Lauer helped establish an internship program for OU students to work on the “Today” show for a semester. One description of the program on OU’s website described the show as “featuring one of our Bobcats, Matt Lauer.” More than 60 students have interned through the program since its 2007 inception, said OU spokeswoman Carly Leatherwood.

It was those interns who first crossed the mind of OU alumna and current Houston Chronicle reporter Alex Stuckey when she heard the news about Lauer, even before details of the allegations emerged. Stuckey will travel to Athens to help lead the task force at its first meeting.

“Regardless of what this is, it was enough to get him fired, and we really need to be concerned about if any of the students who went there were affected by this,” said Stuckey, who was part

of a Salt Lake Tribune team that won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of sexual assaults at Utah colleges.

The journalism school doesn’t know of any specific allegations regarding Lauer and OU students, Stewart said. When the news first broke, he and others were quick to separate themselves from Lauer, pointing out the famous journalist didn’t technically graduate from the journalism school, Stewart said. Then, reactions from Stuckey and other alumni generated a discussion that developed into a call for action.

Stuckey and Stewart said they hope to develop protocols and avenues for advice for students in internships.

“I don’t feel like I had that,” said Stuckey, who also said she’d been sexually harassed during an internship. Stuckey had a number of internships, including one at The Dispatch, but declined to say where the harassment occurred.

“I don’t feel like there was ever a place to go at OU to sort of say, ‘I’m having trouble with this, I need help or just advice about how to handle it,’” she said.

Lauer is the second major

media figure from Ohio University to make headlines for allegations of sexual misconduct in recent years. Roger Ailes, longtime CEO of Fox News, stepped down from his post in July 2016 after more than 20 women came forward with sexual harassment allegations. Two months later, OU announced it would remove Ailes’ name from the WOUB newsroom and return a $500,000 gift.

Nothing at the university is named after Lauer, Leatherwood said.

Students have been quick to volunteer for the new task force, which will convene for the first time in January, Stewart said. Meanwhile, students and alumni have been promoting the names of successful OU journalists on social media.

It was an acknowledgment that Lauer is “not the whole brand,” Stewart said.

“People picked up on that and started offering name after name after name of people who are very successful and are really in the early stages of their career but they’re just killing it. It was a good lift.”