INTRODUCTION
SOONER OR LATER, a public relations (PR) crisis will hit your
university. A reputation for integrity scholarship, and
civic-mindedness nurtured over decades can be sundered overnight.
Almost always, a crisis will be accompanied by legal risks,
sometimes involving large potential liabilities in today's
litigious society. To best weather the storm, legal guidance and PR
advice--which may be at cross-purposes--will have to be
harmonized.
Most often, the nature of the crisis will be unpredictable. It
could arise from sexual assaults, shootings or other crimes,
controversial speech, misbehaving athletes, academic fraud, medical
practices at a university hospital, financial difficulties, or any
of the numerous other facets of today's universities, many of
which are effectively small cities.
