If you’re a student applicant, professor or alumnus, you’re probably wondering which university will be implicated next in the admissions scam scandal. The lessons from this expanding crisis extend beyond academia:
- Regardless of industry, any organization’s reputation is at risk from potential unethical behavior by an executive, employee, investor or other stakeholder.
- The threat to a specific organization applies even when it is only tangentially connected by a general stain or isolated event. Most of the universities mentioned this week claim they were unaware of the alleged illegal activities by coaches and parents.
- Whistleblowers can appear from anywhere once a can of worms is opened.
As crisis counselors we advise our clients to take proactive steps to ensure they are prepared for when – not if – a scandal threatens the reputation of their brand. (We hope that every college administrator is double-checking all aspects of their admission processes.)
Among best practices to have in place:
- Establish a crisis team that is prepared to assemble quickly and gather as much information as possible. (You will never have full information during the crisis. That’s for the post mortem.)
- Monitor all media mentions and updates, and social media postings. Advance warning of a problem can spell the difference between containment and a public scandal.
- Communicate to stakeholders in multiple channels. In the university case, use letters, emails, web sites, staff meetings to listen to the community and to reach out.
Test your crisis communications protocols on a regular basis, and update as needed. We will be watching how colleges and university associations – not just those implicated so far – respond to questions about their admissions procedures.