MCFADYEN et al v. DUKE UNIVERSITY et al

Filing 259

Additional Attachments to Main Document. Re #254 RESPONSE, (Attachments: #1 Exhibit, #2 Exhibit, #3 Exhibit, #4 Exhibit, #5 Exhibit, #6 Exhibit)(EKSTRAND, ROBERT)

Plaintiffs'

Top 5 College PR Crises

EXHIBIT No.4

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Tuesday, November 15. 2011

Top 5 College PR Crises
The last few years have seen a handful of PR case studies emerge as
institutions of higher education were embroiled in scandal, tragedy and
general bad behavior.
1. Virginia Tech Massacre - In 2007 a mentally disturbed studentgunman opened fire on the Blacksburg, Va., campus of Virginia
Polytechnic Institute leaving 32 dead, including 25 students.
The school was lambasted for its failure to react swiftly and
communicate the danger as the ordeal unfolded, including a two-hour
meeting of school officials while the killer remained at large.
Response: Burson-Marsteller was hired to help with the crisis,
which later spawned implementation of campus-wide alert
systems throughout the country's institutions of higher
learning.

2. Penn State Sex Crisis Allegations
of
sexual
contact
between a former Penn State
football coach and young children
rocked the campus this month
leading to the ouster of longtime
football coach Joe Patero and
university
president
Graham
Spanier.
Response: While Paterno
has used PR counsel and
the crisis is still playing out, but Penn State is now relying
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Top 5 College PR Crises

12/28/11 11:37 PM

y g
y g
on Ketchum for outside PR advice. Student outrage (and
rioting) over the media treatment of the school and Paterno
was a national joke, but the emergence of US Steel CEO John
Surma as the school's crisis voice has drawn accolades.

3. Duke University Lacrosse Scandal - The North Carolina campus
suffered a reputation blow in 2006 when members of its lacrosse team
were accused of raping a woman they hired as a stripper for a party.
Although the case eventually fell apart and the athletes were cleared,
the contrast of the alleged victim and many media outlets' portrayal of
Duke athletes as priviledged youth hurt the institutions image as the
incident became, in the words of O'Dwyer columnist Richard Nicolazzo,
a "Molotov cocktail of race, class, alcohol, sports, elitism and town-gown
relations."
Response: Burson-Marsteller helped officials handle the crush
of media requests during the scandal and Duke later hired
Edelman for reputation work.

4. Ohio State University Tattoo-Gate - The midwest football
powerhouse was hobbled amid a memorabilia-for-cash scandal in mid2011 involving a local tattoo parlor which led to the suspension and later
toppling of its revered head coach Jim Tressel.

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Response: The school chalked up an $800K crisis response
bill, including nearly $300K with Kekst and Company for PR
counsel.

5. Rutgers University and Don Imus - The New Jersey institution's
women's basketball team was on a dominating run led by coach C. Vivian
Stringer in 2007 when Don Imus called the squad "nappy-headed hos," a
remark which led to his firing after a ham-handed attempt to explain the
inexcusable quip.
Response: While Imus has been exiled from mainstream
radio, Stringer and Rutgers handled the situation with PR
aplomb, showing grace and dignity in a situation where the
coach and students had every reason to be angry. As the NY
Daily News noted: "The defining image was of the Rutgers
team at a press conference, exuding everything Stringer had
tried to instill. The 'respect' message couldn't have come
across more clearly if Aretha Franklin had dropped in to sing."

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