For a Campus in Crisis, the President's Voice Is Key

Three related SCUP resources:

• Topical resource page on crisis and disaster planning;
• Knowledge Community (email list) on emergency management planning; and
• Monograph for presidents by Sal D. Rinella, Lessons from the Front: The Presidential Role in Disaster Planning and Response (PDF).

Everyone knows about disaster or emergency planning, but how do those differ from crisis planning? Good crisis planning, or crisis management, is fully integrated and covers any kind of possible negative impact on a campus. That includes the kinds of physical disasters we commonly think of, as well as situations like the recent tragic shootings at UAH, or even the news that a university official in a high place has been arrested for a felony. (The field of crisis management got its start during the Tylenol tampering of the last century.)

This recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education by Scott Carlson focuses on the presidential perspective in managing crisis. "Larry Hincker, associate vice president for university relations at Virginia Tech, says that Mr. Steger is not naturally inclined to talk to the news media. But Mr. Hincker advised from the beginning of Virginia Tech's response to the 2007 tragedy on its campus that the president should be visible as the steady face of the university during a crisis, and he says Mr. Steger did not hesitate."

SCUP Resource. Current SCUP president-elect Sal D. Rinella authored a monograph on this topic, Lessons from the front" The Presidential Role in Disaster Planning and Response (PDF). Its advice is sound and timeless, and a copy of this monograph should be in every campus top PR staffer's backpack, as well as in every president's. Why don't you ensure that your president has a copy?

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