In relation to this case, I found another having to do with drunk and reckless driving. At Bloomsburg University in Bloomsburg, PA, the student government present was caught drunk driving on campus. This article was featured on abcnews.com on September, 9/16.
Bloomsburg University Office of Student Standards clearly states that behavior such as this is not acceptable and in addition to any legal issues the students will be subject to judicial review.
Using Guth and Marsh's public relations process as used in previous cases, I was able to review this case and how it was handled.
1. Research: My research of Bloomsburg University's website only gave a brief overview of which activities were punishable by the university and a statement that students would be subjected to judicial review. I also found this document which explained the dangers of drugs and alcohol and about some nearby treatment centers, which tells me that most likely Bloomsburg has a drug education program.
2. Planning: I did not find that much on any public relations practices by the university, but I was personally expecting a more profound statement than the one it provided to the Associated Press. This statement focused on the student himself and didn't address Bloomsburg and its policies as a university.
3. Communication: I have yet to see any follow up communication from the college, which is surprising because the student who was caught drunk driving was so outspoken about the image that students have as irresponsible. In fact, there was no mention of this incident on the university's website at all. By not saying anything, Bloomsburg University is not confronting the issue and is basically pretending that it hasn't happened.
4. Evaluation: Since I did not find any communication by the college on this topic, I doubt very seriously that much evaluation has been done.
My opinion on this is that public relations emphasizes that there should be communication and early and often, which is not happening in this situation. Bloomsburg University should have been ready with a statement and since they're not protecting their reputation, they basically look as if they don't care.
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2 comments:
Amanda,
Thanks for jumping into the blog discussion early this week. I appreciate your initiative. You also presented a very well
organized analysis of the Bloomsburg University student president drunk driving case. Thanks also for the very useful links, which help to inform the case.
I agree with your analysis that BU hasn’t done enough to communicate publicly about their position on this incident. Most organizations would issue a timely release if a senior official was arrested – and I would classify the student body president as a senior official. Instead, it seems like BU is acting like an “ostrich with its head in the sand” … simply ducking attention and hoping the problem will go away.
Like you, I would have encouraged BU to be much more proactive. I couldn’t find any evidence of tactics, either, that show how BU might have issued press releases, statements, etc. The responses from the BU official in news reports seem to have come from responses to news queries – a very passive approach. Maybe BU didn’t want to be proactive, for fear they would simple increase visibility of this embarrassing incident. Maybe they wanted to protect the privacy of this student, who seems to have acted out of character. Who knows?
This passivity could backfire on BU, though. And it might send the wrong message to students, parents, and other strategic publics that want to see tougher action on the drunk driving issue.
I also tried to find coverage in the BU student news paper, The Voice. I checked The Voice Web site and, surprisingly, it seems that the last update to this site was in February 2007. Has the Voice been silenced? What’s happening at BU?
Thanks, Amanda.
Mark
Amanda,
Thanks for sharing this story. I think that drunk driving is such an important topic, especially on college campuses. There are so many tragic accidents and deaths that are caused by drunk driving.
I agree with both you and Mark that the university should have been much more open with the public about the incident. There was almost no communication issued from the school other than the university spokesperson stating that this was out of character for the student. They should have addressed the issue to the public in order to maintain their credibility. Ignoring the issue is not going to help them at all and would be curious to find out if the number of applicants for the Fall 2008 semester decreasing from the normal average.
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